COURTROOM ABUZZ OVER LAWYER

It was standing room only in court 12 at the Melbourne Magistrates Court
yesterday as one of the city's prominent criminal lawyers made an appearance
as a defendant.

Mr Andrew Roderick Fraser, who once represented Perth millionaire Alan Bond,
was first on the court list on charges of trafficking cocaine.

The hearing followed his arrest at the weekend as part of an international
investigation into a major cocaine syndicate.

Police also arrested three others and seized about eight kilograms of
cocaine, worth an estimated $6million, one of the biggest hauls in the state.

Having hired one of Melbourne's leading Queen's counsel, Mr Con Heliotis, Mr
Fraser waited outside the court before entering the packed courtroom to have
his bail extended on a surety of $10,000.

After the brief hearing, half the court, including a large media contingent,
followed him outside.

"I am prepared to say one thing," he told the crowd. "Things are not always
as they seem in life on the surface."

Mr Fraser, 48, of St Kilda West, faces four charges: using, possessing and
trafficking in cocaine and using ecstasy.

He was bailed to appear at a committal hearing on 27 September.

Some of Mr Fraser's clients have included the late gunman Dennis Bruce
Allen, jailed footballer Jimmy Krakouer and one of the four men charged over
the murder of two policemen in Walsh Street, South Yarra, in 1987.

The other three people arrested at the weekend were remanded.

Mr Werner Paul Roberts, 52, of Elwood, and Ms Carol Brand, 36, of St Kilda,
were charged with possessing and importing a commercial quantity of cocaine.

Ms Andrea Mohr, 36, of Elwood, was charged with conspiring to import a
commercial quantity of cocaine and being knowingly concerned in the
importation of cocaine.

No bail applications were made.

The three were remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on 19 November.