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

It was an elaborate drug plot that took two years to plan, but mere seconds to unravel.

Loaded up with 548 kilograms of cocaine — with a street value upwards of $80 million — the Cessna light plane took off from north of Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby for Mareeba in Queensland.

The aircraft barely made it past the runway, crashing into trees.

The pilot, David Cutmore, was sentenced to 18 years in a PNG jail over the failed 2020 operation.

On Thursday, two masterminds behind the plan and another involved were sentenced in Victoria's County Court.

"Had you succeeded you would have been rich beyond measure," Judge John Kelly told the men.

"You were undone by your greed."

Dozens of people turned up to support the men in court, so much so that the case needed to be shifted to a larger courtroom. Before the hearing, the crowd chatted warmly like old friends. By the end, some wept loudly and needed to be consoled.

The ringleader, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was jailed for 22 years with a minimum of 13 years for conspiring to import a commercial quantity of cocaine.

Judge Kelly said the man had large gambling debts and was motivated by his "obligations to shadowy figures".

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

he said.

The man's second-in-command, Aiden Khoder, was handed a 21-year sentence with a 12-year non-parole period.

Khoder, a repeat drug trafficker, was described as "ambitious and greedy" by the judge.

George Machem, who was sentenced to seven years jail with a minimum of four on a lesser drug charge, completed "routine legwork" for the syndicate, Judge Kelly said.

The court heard the drug plot had been in the works for almost two years, and involved modification of the light plane so that it could carry the huge cocaine haul.

In July 2020, it was flown from Mareeba to PNG with flat-screen televisions, Sony Playstations and jerry cans onboard. Once it reached the destination, the items were swapped out for bags of cocaine.

When the plane crashed shortly after take-off on the return leg, the drugs were stashed in nearby mangroves. It was soon discovered by authorities and the men were arrested.

The case took years to move through the courts, with the trio agreeing to plead guilty last year.

The judge said the men's families would also suffer while they languished in jail, including their young children. The court heard one missed his father so badly that he clutched one of his shirts each night in bed.

Judge Kelly said the offenders had all expressed regret for their actions.

"The scope of your planned importation was colossal,"

he said.

"You would have certainly become wealthy men. Now you are sorry," he said.

The drugs were incinerated by the Australian Federal Police in 2024.