A business student with no criminal history, Jamie Gao was just a normal, well-liked guy to his family and friends.

But last week he vanished and his body was believed to have been discovered yesterday wrapped in a blue tarpaulin off Cronulla beach.

Former police detective Greg McNamara has been arrested and charged with murder, while another former officer Roger Rogerson remains on the run.

Police initially treated Mr Gao’s disappearance as a potential kidnapping for ransom.

News Corp reported Mr Gao had spoken “excitedly” about last Tuesday’s meeting, but was vague on details.

“And when he talked to friends he indicated he would be seeing them later in the day,” Robbery and Serious Crime Squad Detective Superintendent Luke Moore told The Daily Telegraph.

Mr Moore said while there was nothing to indicate Mr Gao was involved in drugs, he did not have lots of money or a lavish lifestyle, “that is not to say he may not have gotten involved in something way above his head”.

It has now been revealed the student had drugs on him and went to the meeting as part of a $3 million “ice” deal.

Police say he was last seen on CCTV getting into a car with two men, alleged to be McNamara and Rogerson.

Mr Gao is an only child and his mother, who owns a business in Hurstville, has cut short a trip to Hong Kong to come back to Sydney.

The 20-year-old was a university student at Sydney’s University of Technology where the student association said the drug connection would have been a “shock” to those that knew him.

He attended Caringbah High School in New South Wales.

One man, who attended the same high school as Mr Gao, expressed his surprise and shock on Facebook.

The man said the student was a “top kid, extremely polite and well mannered”.

“Rest in peace brother. I have only good things to say about you. You didn’t deserve this.”