Drug traffickers jailed over failed plot to smuggle cocaine from PNG by plane

A sophisticated drug smuggling operation involving a light plane and nearly $80 million worth of cocaine has ended with significant prison sentences for three men in Australia. The plot, conceived over two years, aimed to transport 548 kilograms of cocaine from Papua New Guinea to Queensland.

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Had you succeeded you would have been rich beyond measure.

However, the plan unraveled moments after takeoff. The Cessna aircraft, loaded with the illicit substance, crashed into trees near the runway outside Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The pilot, David Cutmore, was previously sentenced to 18 years in a PNG jail for his role in the failed 2020 operation.

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You were undone by your greed.

In Victoria's County Court, the operation's ringleader, whose identity is protected for legal reasons, was jailed for 22 years with a minimum of 13 years. Judge John Kelly cited the man's large gambling debts and obligations to "shadowy figures" as motivations. The judge described the man's second-in-command, Aiden Khoder, a repeat offender, as "ambitious and greedy" and sentenced him to 21 years with a 12-year non-parole period. George Machem, who handled "routine legwork," received a seven-year sentence with a minimum of four years on a lesser charge.

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You say you fell in with undesirables … and accumulated debts no honest man could pay.

Judge Kelly noted the immense scale of the planned importation, stating the men "would have certainly become wealthy men." He also acknowledged the suffering their families, including young children, would endure during their incarceration. The court heard that one offender missed his father so profoundly that he slept clutching one of his shirts each night. The offenders have all expressed regret for their actions, but the consequences of their "colossal" plan have led them to prison.

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ambitious and greedy