An Australian hockey athlete has been arrested in Paris, Olympic officials have confirmed, after allegedly trying to buy cocaine.
August 7, 2024 – 7:44PMNews Sport Network
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Australian men’s hockey player Tom Craig was arrested for allegedly buying cocaine on the streets of Paris on Tuesday night as some of the gloss of the stunning Olympic campaign was taken off by Aussies behaving badly.
The 28-year-old Kookaburras striker had left a team function on Tuesday night and then only 15 minutes later was allegedly caught buying cocaine off a dealer.
The dealer had 75 ecstasy pills and seven vials of cocaine and was also arrested, with Craig understood to have bought a gram of cocaine.
It is a particularly unwelcome distraction for the AOC and the hockey fraternity after both the men’s and women’s side crashed out of Olympic calculations with quarterfinals exits.
Craig was a member of the Kookaburras team which won silver at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Hockey sources confirmed he was the player allegedly caught with cocaine, which was witnessed by Paris police.
The player from Lane Cove, New South Wales, had a strong tournament and is the partner of rising women’s hockey player Alice Arnott, who had a breakout tournament after being preferred to high-profile striker Rosie Malone.
The Australian Olympic committee said no charges had been laid as of Wednesday morning Paris time.
“The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has confirmed an Australian hockey team member is in custody after being arrested in Paris on August 6th. No charges have been laid. “The AOC is continuing to make inquiries and arrange support for the Team member.”
Some of the hockey players remained downstairs in a hotel after the function but others headed out on the town.
While Australia’s Olympians had been told to clear out the village 48 hours after their events, it is understood there is enough space in the team village for athletes to remain longer.
It means Australian athletes heading out on the town and celebrating their successes or commiserating after their failures has been a regular occurrence in recent days.
Australia’s hockey fraternity had hoped to be deep into an Olympic campaign but instead after those exits the players gathered for a function on Tuesday night, a day after the men’s team lost to the Netherlands.
About five of those players had dinner downstairs in the hotel but others including Craig went out onto the town.
The Paris prosecutors office said a 28-year-old Australian was arrested outside a building in the 9th arrondissement.
The initial report on X from the Europe 1 crime reporter.
“Police officers who witnessed a cocaine transaction at the foot of a building in the 9th arrondissement, on the night of August 6 to 7, arrested the seller, born in December 2006, and the buyer, born in September 1995 in Australia and who is said to be a member of the Australian field hockey team,” the spokesman said.
“With regard to the quantities of narcotics seized from the seller, the investigations have been entrusted to the Narcotics Squad.”
Under French law on-the-spot fines can be paid of as little as 150 euro, or $250, with a prosecution unlikely.
In 2020 a new law gave police officers the authority to issue fines to those caught in possession of small amounts of drugs.
The new law still allows those with illicit drugs to be punished with up to one year of jail.
But prosecution for those with simple drug possession can be avoided with the payment of a fine of only 200 euros.
And that fine can be reduced to only 150 euros if it is paid within 15 days.
If a person is caught with less than five grams of cocaine the new statute applies.
The rule was brought in to reduce the backlog of cases in criminal courts and “simplify the work of law enforcement officers”.
Jon Ralph, Todd Balym and David Campbell
Herald Sun
