'Black flight' smugglers caught with 52 kg methamphetamine on remote Australian airstrip
The methamphetamine seized had an estimated street value of more than $15 million
Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Tuesday nabbed five members of a criminal syndicate group for orchestrating a black flight and carrying 52 kilogrammes of illegal methamphetamine worth $15 million into Australia. The five men had flown a twin-engine Beechcraft light aircraft back and forth from Papua New Guines(PNG) to Australia before being apprehended.
The AFP officers were already in position when the 'black flight' that could not be detected by radar landed at a remote airstrip in Queensland. Images and videos of the incident released show the officials quickly circling the aircraft and nabbing the perpetrators.
"All five men were arrested by specialist AFP and Queensland Police Service members shortly after the plane arrived at the Monto airstrip on Tuesday afternoon (March 21, 2023). Police located and seized five duffle bags concealed in the plane, containing about 52 kg methamphetamine," read the police report.
The police released a statement adding that pilots Bernard Hamilton-Alexander, 51 and his co-pilot, John Horvath, 52 took off from Wilton, a rural area south of Sydney on Monday. They took a pitstop at Monto to refuel before landing in the town of Bulolo in Papua New Guinea.
There they picked five duffle bags filled with 52 kg of methamphetamine before returning to Monto where the officers were waiting. Four of the five men arrested, all from the state of New South Wales have already been produced before the magistrates' court. The final perpetrator is expected to be produced before the court on Thursday (March 23).
The police added that the men charged were Transnational Serious Organised Crime (TSOC) members who routinely handled the import of methamphetamine to rural Queensland from PNG.
"If you look at the size of this attempted importation that was essentially stopped, you're talking about 520,000 individual hits or deals. These men have not only allegedly imported a dangerous drug into Australia, but flying at low altitude without proper instructions poses a huge safety risk for other aircraft," saidDetective Chief Superintendent Jason Weinstein
(With inputs from agencies)
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