A New South Wales man accused of hiding $1.5 million worth of cocaine in an underground barrel near the Darwin CBD has been refused bail after arguing it should be granted because he is the “main breadwinner” for his young family.

Cy Morris, 42, appeared in the Darwin Local Court on Monday dressed in an orange prison jumper and thongs, as his lawyer urged the judge to release him.

“He has a partner … they have a young daughter and [his partner] is pregnant with their second child and she’s due to give birth later this month,” defence lawyer Louise White said.

“[Mr Morris] is the main breadwinner and provider for his family; if he’s not granted bail his partner could be at a disadvantage and not able to provide for her children.”

Ms White also argued that despite having a history of drug-related offences in the early 2000s, Mr Morris was “not a risk” of re-offending or skipping future court dates because of his family responsibilities.

But Judge Dick Wallace rejected the application, telling the court the charges Mr Morris faced were on a scale “rarely seen in the Northern Territory” and that he had no links to the NT that would encourage him to return for court.

“His partner is going to be in a very awkward situation if he’s in custody during the next little while,” Judge Wallace said.

“Even so, it seems to me the risks of non-appearance for a person with no known connection to Darwin, facing a high likelihood of conviction on very serious charges, the risks of such a person not attending is very high.”

Judge Wallace also said that “not even a daily reporting condition” on bail would offer enough security.

Prosecutor Indigo Collins told the court the amount of cocaine allegedly linked to Mr Morris was 75 times the threshold of a commercial quantity of the drug.

Undercover police operation leads to arrest

Ms Collins read the alleged police facts to the court, revealing Mr Morris had been under surveillance by the NT Police drug and organised crime squad for several weeks.

Police said officers had received a tip-off from New South Wales Police about Mr Morris.

Ms Collins told the court that police had followed him as he had purchased a 20 litre canoe drum, shovel, gardening gloves and a food saver cryovac machine, before heading to the cenotaph carpark on Darwin’s Esplanade.

“He was observed by police jumping the fence into bushland behind the car park with the shovel,” Ms Collins said.

The court heard Mr Morris allegedly buried the drum in the vegetation, before covering it with “rocks, soil and foliage to conceal the site”.

Later that night, the court heard police had followed him to an address in Howard Springs, a suburb about 27 kilometres east of Darwin, before later returning to the carpark near the Esplanade Cenotaph and jumping the fence again.

Police allege that was when Mr Morris deposited three kilograms of cocaine and $110,000 into the buried drum.

He was later arrested by officers at his accommodation in the CBD.

Police also seized six kilograms of cannabis and a total of $225,000 in cash after searching a rural block in Howard Springs.

A 42-year-old man has also been arrested.

Judge Wallace told the court the prosecution’s case, on face value, appeared “very strong”, unless there had been a “bizarre case of mistaken identity”.

Mr Morris was remanded in custody and is set to return to court in June.