An aircraft crash in PNG six years ago that stopped a bid to import 500kg of cocaine has now seen eight drug traffickers jailed in two countries.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) say three Melbourne men were sentenced yesterday (July 16) for their role to fly in cocaine worth $800 million at the time.
A Niddrie, Victoria, man (now aged 39) has been jailed for 22 years (13 years non-parole period) for plotting to import the cocaine.
A Maribrynong, Victoria, man (now 37) will spend at least 12 years of his 21-year sentence behind bars for also conspiring to import the illegal drug.
A Liverpool man from NSW man (now 42) will spend at least four years of his seven-year term in jail.
On March 27, a 67-year-old Melbourne man was jailed for four years six months (18 months non-parole) for laundering more than $1 million.
Four men in PNG were also jailed in September 2024 for 18 to 19 years each over the plot, the AFP says.
The federal police say the Melbourne men were arrested in July 2020 ‘after an investigation into a black’ flight by a Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (QJOCTF) working with Victorian and PNG police.
Raids were co-ordinated across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and PNG with nine arrests in total, five in Australia.
The men were arrested when the aircraft crashed after take-off from a remote airstrip north of Port Moresby on July 26, 2020.
The cocaine and wreckage was found by police five days after the crash.
The drugs were incinerated in Queensland in November 2024 also watched by PNG Police.
AIRCRAFT USE SPARKS WARNING
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer says: “We had our eyes on this criminal group from a very early stage of this planned importation.
“Four men in Australia will serve a combined maximum 54 years imprisonment, made possible by our officers dedicating almost two-years to this multi-agency operation, and our close ties with the Royal PNG Constabulary.”
He says the plane’s crash shows the lengths criminals will go to.
“It also demonstrates the danger of black flight ventures; we were lucky no one was killed or seriously injured in the (aircraft) crash,” he says.
Royal PNG Constabulary Commissioner David Manning says the two countries’ police forces will “pursue all members of transnational criminal networks, regardless of where they are located”.
ABF Acting Superintendent Zachary Bruton says the court cases reveal the strength of policing partnerships.
“The ABF will continue to target and disrupt criminal networks that seek to use aviation, maritime or other pathways to facilitate the importation of illicit drugs into Australia,” he says.
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