Five people have been charged in relation to a 'black flight' from PNG to Australia that had 52 kilograms of methamphetamine onboard with a street value of $15 million.
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The arrests were made as part of an Australian Federal Police-led investigation into black flights, which are aircraft that log false flight plans and fly at a very low altitude or turn off flight monitoring systems to avoid law enforcement or aviation detection.
In this case police allege the men charged were "transnational serious organised crime members" who handled the practical arrangements for the methamphetamine to be imported onboard a black flight from PNG to rural Queensland. It will be alleged that once the flight landed in Queensland, the aircraft was to be refuelled and flown to NSW.
Three of the arrested men allegedly provided ground support for the flight and had staged themselves in Queensland since February in preparation, including a Newcastle man who allegedly helped transport a tank of aviation gas to central Queensland to refill the aircraft at the remote airstrip and also purchased and rented equipment for the importation.
The two pilots who allegedly flew the black flight were also charged.
Police believe that over two days, March 20 and 21, the pilot, a 51-year-old Fairy Meadow man, and co-pilot, a 52-year-old Tahmoor man, flew a twin-engine Beechcraft light aircraft from Wilton, a rural area south west of Sydney, to the town of Bulolo in PNG.
Before landing in PNG, the pilots refuelled at an airstrip in the central Queensland town of Monto.
It will be alleged the pilots collected methamphetamine in PNG and then returned to the airstrip at Monto. The men allegedly flew at an unauthorised low altitude with the aircraft's transponder switched off during the return journey in an effort to avoid radar detection.
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. Police located and seized five duffle bags concealed in the plane, containing about 52kg methamphetamine.
Following the arrests in Central Queensland, the AFP and NSW Police officers executed search warrants at four homes and businesses in Wilton and Tahmoor, Fairy Meadow and Wallsend.
During the warrants, police seized electronic devices, firearm parts, drug paraphernalia and documentation referencing aircraft parts and travel to PNG. All items will be subject to further forensic examination.
All five men were charged with importing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine and face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted.
The syndicate also allegedly used encrypted phones and messaging systems to communicate with other members of the supply chain based offshore.
Further inquiries are continuing into how this syndicate sourced the drugs, and to identify others responsible for planning this importation.
The pilot of that venture is serving an 18-year prison sentence term in PNG for the attempted import. Other prosecutions, both in PNG and in Australia, relating to that matter are ongoing.
"The way these criminal syndicates allegedly imported this methamphetamine to Australia was dangerous," AFP Assistant Commissioner Eastern Command Stephen Dametto said.
"These charges are extremely serious, but equally, allegedly flying an unregistered, low-level flight, across thousands of kilometres is dangerous.
"These men have not only allegedly imported a dangerous drug, but flying at a low altitude without proper monitoring systems poses a huge safety risk to other aircraft and to emergency services members in the event of an incident.
"Methamphetamine is a dangerous, illegal drug that causes so much harm to the community and first-line responders, such as paramedics, nurses and police."
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