One down in PNG today - C402C, VH-TSI
From the Telegraph.
True Crime AustraliaPolice & Courts NSW
Drug cartels using Australian ‘black flights’ to bring in cocaine Rogue pilots are flying into unmanned airstrips to bring drugs into Australia, before leaving again loaded with cash, a former border force boss has revealed.
Rogue pilots are flying plane loads of cocaine into Australia on “black flights”, landing undetected on remote airstrips before leaving again loaded with cash.
“Unmanned airstrips are certainly used by drug cartels to bring in drugs,’’ said former ABF boss Roman Quaedvlieg.
“Also there are coastal airstrips which are unresourced and the importers will run the gauntlet, so to speak, knowing that authorities are not as well staffed as bigger airports and believe they can escape detection.”
Sources some of the flights do register as legitimate arrivals on paper, with a low risk to avoid scrutiny.
Planes are known to be modified with extra fuel tanks so they can island-hop from overseas source countries.
Mr Quaedvlieg said the ABF had sophisticated flight trackers deployed around the country but said crews which landed at isolated airstrips knew they could unload the contraband before authorities arrive.
He said there could be no denying Australia received “absolute black flights’’ which logged no paperwork and flew low to avoid radar systems.
In July last year a Cessna twin engine plane crashed near Port Moresby carrying 500kg of cocaine with an Australian pilot who died in the accident.
Both Papua New Guinea and Australian Federal Police believe the plane took off from north Queensland on July 26 and flew at only 3000 feet above the ground to avoid being picked up by radar.
The flight collected the drugs but the plane crashed on it’s return journey.
“The extent of these types of importations is unknown, but this incident tells you it is happening, and it’s naive to think we are on top of it,’’ Mr Quaedvlieg said.
The practise has been going on for years with NSW Police tracking a former CIA plane in 2014 from the US which island hopped across the Pacific before landing in Port Headland where it lodged its arrival with customs. It then crisscrossed the country, arriving empty at Albion Park.
Sniffer dogs and detectors established later there had been a large amount of drugs transported in the plane at some time.
Evidence given in a trial of a member of the Sinola Mexcian drug cartel in the US heard Australian pilots were offered huge money to run cocaine flights in and out of the country.
“Individual A advised that his/her associates were moving millions of dollars per month from Australia to the United States, and that the money was being used to purchase cocaine to be sold in Australia,’’ special agent for the DEA Christopher O’Reilly detailed in a court case against Jose Mares-Barragan in 2013.
“In prior meetings between CS1 and Individual A, CS1 had pretended to be a pilot,” he said.
“Individual A asked CS1 whether he/she was interested in moving millions of dollars from Australia to the United States.”
True Crime AustraliaPolice & Courts NSW
Drug cartels using Australian ‘black flights’ to bring in cocaine Rogue pilots are flying into unmanned airstrips to bring drugs into Australia, before leaving again loaded with cash, a former border force boss has revealed.
Rogue pilots are flying plane loads of cocaine into Australia on “black flights”, landing undetected on remote airstrips before leaving again loaded with cash.
“Unmanned airstrips are certainly used by drug cartels to bring in drugs,’’ said former ABF boss Roman Quaedvlieg.
“Also there are coastal airstrips which are unresourced and the importers will run the gauntlet, so to speak, knowing that authorities are not as well staffed as bigger airports and believe they can escape detection.”
Sources some of the flights do register as legitimate arrivals on paper, with a low risk to avoid scrutiny.
Planes are known to be modified with extra fuel tanks so they can island-hop from overseas source countries.
Mr Quaedvlieg said the ABF had sophisticated flight trackers deployed around the country but said crews which landed at isolated airstrips knew they could unload the contraband before authorities arrive.
He said there could be no denying Australia received “absolute black flights’’ which logged no paperwork and flew low to avoid radar systems.
In July last year a Cessna twin engine plane crashed near Port Moresby carrying 500kg of cocaine with an Australian pilot who died in the accident.
Both Papua New Guinea and Australian Federal Police believe the plane took off from north Queensland on July 26 and flew at only 3000 feet above the ground to avoid being picked up by radar.
The flight collected the drugs but the plane crashed on it’s return journey.
“The extent of these types of importations is unknown, but this incident tells you it is happening, and it’s naive to think we are on top of it,’’ Mr Quaedvlieg said.
The practise has been going on for years with NSW Police tracking a former CIA plane in 2014 from the US which island hopped across the Pacific before landing in Port Headland where it lodged its arrival with customs. It then crisscrossed the country, arriving empty at Albion Park.
Sniffer dogs and detectors established later there had been a large amount of drugs transported in the plane at some time.
Evidence given in a trial of a member of the Sinola Mexcian drug cartel in the US heard Australian pilots were offered huge money to run cocaine flights in and out of the country.
“Individual A advised that his/her associates were moving millions of dollars per month from Australia to the United States, and that the money was being used to purchase cocaine to be sold in Australia,’’ special agent for the DEA Christopher O’Reilly detailed in a court case against Jose Mares-Barragan in 2013.
“In prior meetings between CS1 and Individual A, CS1 had pretended to be a pilot,” he said.
“Individual A asked CS1 whether he/she was interested in moving millions of dollars from Australia to the United States.”
Don’t think there was too much flight involved in the return !
And the pilot has been reincarnated in POM!
And they don’t just think it came from fnq... they know. There is a vid clip about that shows TSI taxing at YMBA.
300’ sounds more likely for dodging radar ,...what little or none of it there is “up here”..but OTH techno can take care of that.
RIP that lot. Rot In Prison.
And the pilot has been reincarnated in POM!
And they don’t just think it came from fnq... they know. There is a vid clip about that shows TSI taxing at YMBA.
300’ sounds more likely for dodging radar ,...what little or none of it there is “up here”..but OTH techno can take care of that.
RIP that lot. Rot In Prison.
Interesting that the prosecutor did not make himself available to the court. Looks like the nobbling process is well underway.
So it will be left to some hapless police sergeant with at best a Grade 9 education to do battle with Moresby’s finest barristers and legal brains and more importantly who will have all sorts of connections to the highest levels of judiciary in PNG. You just can’t get more nobbled than that can you?
The wonderful thing about corruption in PNG is that it is so transparent.
So it will be left to some hapless police sergeant with at best a Grade 9 education to do battle with Moresby’s finest barristers and legal brains and more importantly who will have all sorts of connections to the highest levels of judiciary in PNG. You just can’t get more nobbled than that can you?
The wonderful thing about corruption in PNG is that it is so transparent.
Last edited by lucille; 10th Jul 2021 at 00:32.
Interesting that the prosecutor did not make himself available to the court. Looks like the nobbling process is well underway.
So it will be left to some hapless police sergeant with at best a Grade 9 education to do battle with Moresby’s finest barristers and legal brains and more importantly who will have all sorts of connections to the highest levels of judiciary in PNG. You just can’t get more nobbled than that can you?
The wonderful thing about corruption in PNG is that it is so transparent.
So it will be left to some hapless police sergeant with at best a Grade 9 education to do battle with Moresby’s finest barristers and legal brains and more importantly who will have all sorts of connections to the highest levels of judiciary in PNG. You just can’t get more nobbled than that can you?
The wonderful thing about corruption in PNG is that it is so transparent.
Sheer gold!
@Mumbai.
Probably, probably and probably.
The Lord has mysterious ways......
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Pilot’s case adjourned
September 7, 2021The NationalMain StoriesAN Australian pilot, one of the accused in the biggest drug bust in the country last year, will return to court in two weeks for a ruling on his charge of dealing with criminal property.His lawyer had opted not to make submissions, but asked the court to consider the content of police hand-up brief and deliver its ruling.
Central committal court Magistrate Alex Kalandi adjourned the case of David John Cutmore, 52, to Sept 23 for the ruling.
Cutmore was alleged to have crashed a Cessna-402 twin-engine during take-off with 611kg of cocaine on board at Papa Lealea village, about 30km west of Port Moresby.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa), through its lawyer, Carol Jaran, moved a motion yesterday to have Cutmore serve a custodial sentence after he failed to pay fines for entering PNG illegally and without proper aviation documents.
Jaran submitted that Cutmore had pleaded guilty to two charges under section 278 (1) (a) and 280 (a) of the Civil Aviation Act and was ordered by the court to pay a total of K37,000 within two months but that had not happened. “We filed a notice of motion on June 29, 2020, seeking two orders under section 167 of the District Court Act,” Jaran said.
Cutmore’s charges under the Customs Act were also adjourned to Sept 23.
He has been remanded at the Bomana Immigration Detention Centre.
So what’s the bet for the likely penalty from an Aussie court?
Released on parole for time already served in PNG…. And maybe if the magistrate is feeling particularly vindictive… a good behaviour bond.
Released on parole for time already served in PNG…. And maybe if the magistrate is feeling particularly vindictive… a good behaviour bond.
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Yes; agreed, time served ..
Good behaviour bond is interesting option; the drug owners back in Aus might have other more permanent plans.
First stop after arriving in Aussie is to go to a DAME and renew the Licence and then an IFR check; back in business!
Add Cutmore to the list of disgraced Aussie that have wronged the PNG people; by the way, where is Fred Martens these days?
Good behaviour bond is interesting option; the drug owners back in Aus might have other more permanent plans.
First stop after arriving in Aussie is to go to a DAME and renew the Licence and then an IFR check; back in business!
Add Cutmore to the list of disgraced Aussie that have wronged the PNG people; by the way, where is Fred Martens these days?
A year in a PNG kalabus would be as bad as 10 in an Aussie air conditioned-all-comforts-provided jail, so let us pray he does another year up there, then who cares if he is set free? His life, and rectum, will never be the same. The only place he would ever be likely to get a flying job would be Burundi or the Congo.
Last edited by Mach E Avelli; 15th Sep 2021 at 00:17.
Sarcasm and lack of faith in the PNG judicary may be well founded, but cross jurisdictional prosecution will be interesting.
PNG legislation may be incapable of prosecution, but Australia isn't a prosecutor on PNG's behalf for offences committed in a sovereign nation.
So what offences has old mate committed in Australia that he can be prosecuted for under Australian law?
Just saying...
PNG legislation may be incapable of prosecution, but Australia isn't a prosecutor on PNG's behalf for offences committed in a sovereign nation.
So what offences has old mate committed in Australia that he can be prosecuted for under Australian law?
Just saying...
Intent to traffic in a commercial quantity ? Probably in his favour that he busted the a/c on departure.
Had he turned up back in Oz there would probably have been a reception committee observing the proceedings. And etc.!!
Some vid about of the departure..!
Had he turned up back in Oz there would probably have been a reception committee observing the proceedings. And etc.!!
Some vid about of the departure..!
Drug pilot Cutmore might have some esteemed company in Bomana jail
Sean Honey, son of Tropicair PNG, Managaing Director, Tony Honey (according to Tropicair web site a few minutes ago) has been busted and remanded for drug and fire arms offences in POM after importing large quantities from USA. Sean was also in trouble earlier this year in Cairns when arrested and charged with cooking Meth/Cocaine etc in the quarantine hotel. Magistrate let him off so as not to prevent his PNG work permit being re-issued. Bad mistake!
K90m drug bust in Pom - Post Courier
Drug bust – The National
Australian denied bail – The National
Sean Honey, son of Tropicair PNG, Managaing Director, Tony Honey (according to Tropicair web site a few minutes ago) has been busted and remanded for drug and fire arms offences in POM after importing large quantities from USA. Sean was also in trouble earlier this year in Cairns when arrested and charged with cooking Meth/Cocaine etc in the quarantine hotel. Magistrate let him off so as not to prevent his PNG work permit being re-issued. Bad mistake!
K90m drug bust in Pom - Post Courier
Drug bust – The National
Australian denied bail – The National
Last edited by Office Update; 13th Oct 2021 at 10:08.
