Ex-NSW detective Glen McNamara spent days planning the "execution style" murder of university student Jamie Gao and organised the dumping of his body, the crown says.
But his barrister says that there was no "certainty" about who fired the fatal shot or what was intended.
Details of the murder allegedly carried out by McNamara and his co-accused Roger Rogerson were revealed at Central Local Court on Friday when the former made a bid for bail.
In opposing the application, crown prosecutor Chris Maxwell QC played CCTV footage to the court, which he said demonstrated the two former cops had planned the murder of the 20-year-old student in a bid to "rip him off" of three kilograms of drugs.
The crown says it shows McNamara taking Mr Gao into the dark Padstow storage unit in Sydney's southwest on May 20 before Rogerson arrives three to four minutes later.
The former cops eventually emerge "dragging out a surfboard bag" containing Mr Gao's body and "bending and lifting it into the back of the car", he said.
The court heard McNamara and Rogerson allegedly began planning Mr Gao's murder after negotiating the supply of drugs with him in early January of this year.
To this end, McNamara took his boat out of storage on May 19.
McNamara also packed his surfboard cover in the back of his station wagon.
A week after the alleged murder, Mr Gao's body was found wrapped in a blue tarpaulin, bobbing about three kilometres off Cronulla beach.
By that time the court heard that 2.8 kilograms of the drug "ice" had also been discovered in the back footwell of McNamara's car.
If released, Mr Maxwell warned the 55-year-old might dispose of the murder weapon, which is yet to be found.
"If it's not at the bottom of the sea it is some place where he could take action to ensure it will never be found," he said.
But McNamara's barrister Ian Lloyd QC said the 55-year-old had no criminal record and was willing to post $580,000 in surety - $400,000 of which came from his mother.
While he said his client was involved in the disposal of Mr Gao's body, "the crown can't say with any certainty who fired the shot or what was intended with one or other of the accused".
If the pair had intended to "rip off" Mr Gao, Mr Lloyd argued that as former cops they were doing it in a "very amateurish way".
Magistrate Les Mabbutt denied bail saying that McNamara posed an unacceptable flight risk and committing another serious offence.
Rogerson, who is also charged with murder and drug supply, appeared in court briefly on Friday but withdrew his application for bail just before it was about to proceed.
Rogerson's lawyer Paul Kenny told reporters outside court the CCTV footage didn't show what happened inside the storage unit.
The matter will return to court in September.
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