<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Four men are facing charges of stealing hundreds of crocodile eggs from a world-famous national park.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pilot Sebastian Robinson along with Timothy Luck, Dean Larsen and Stephen Slark are all charged with taking, keeping and moving a species from Kakadu National Park in February 2024.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A company, SDRL Pty Ltd, operating under the name Kinga Contracting, is also charged with obtaining a financial advantage by deception in relation to the case.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/woman-dies-on-qantas-flight-from-usa-to-new-zealand/e4d890d4-b5e2-47a9-b236-abc9dc9c383e" target="_blank"><strong><span>Woman dies on Qantas flight from the US to New Zealand</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The egg-stealing charges follow a joint investigation by Parks Australia, the Australian Federal Police and the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Legal crocodile egg collecting in the Northern Territory provides eggs to crocodile farms and involves helicopter pilots lowering a man on a line onto nests to do the collecting in remote wetlands.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the Darwin Local Court today Ruth Champion, appearing for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, said the charges of illegally taking crocodile eggs involved serious offending.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/four-face-charges-of-stealing-crocodile-eggs-in-kakadu/4c66ec5d-0d84-4c8f-b211-09dec7b71886" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That took into account the sophistication and complexity of the operation, the number of accused acting in concert, the use of a helicopter and the very large number of eggs taken, she told the court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We're not talking about one, two or three, but something in the hundreds."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Champion also noted the impact of the alleged egg stealing on Traditional Owners and the cultural harm felt by them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/australian-property-prices-brisbane-perth-home-values-tipped-to-climb-50k-defying-interest-rate-hikes/12b68b06-8726-43cf-b385-d892df493e1a" target="_blank"><strong><span>Property values in two Australian capitals tipped to rise by $50,000 this year</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Defence lawyer Thomas Clelland told the court the matter was a complicated one involving the complex area of DNA analysis.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Elizabeth Morris set a five-day hearing from November 30 to December 4, with 10 witnesses to be called.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In February 2022 Robinson was piloting a helicopter on a legal crocodile egg collecting mission in the Top End when the machine crashed, killing egg collector Chris "Willow" Wilson and leaving Robinson a paraplegic.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Their employer, helicopter operator and reality TV star Matt Wright, was found guilty in December of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the crash investigation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The star of hit TV shows Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory is behind bars in Darwin, serving a five-month term for trying to tamper with evidence to cover up the disconnecting of flight time meters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Wright was not accused of causing the crash, the death of his co-star Wilson or the injuries of Robinson and is not involved in the egg-stealing case.</span></div></div>