Four more jailed over failed 500kg cocaine ‘black flight’

Lengthy jail sentences have been handed to four more men for their role in a failed ‘black flight’ in which a plane filled with cocaine crashed on take off.

The crash scene just outside Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Photo: Deni ToKunai via Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary

Four more men have been ­jailed for their role in a failed “black flight” from Papua New Guinea to Queensland in which a plane carrying more than 500kg of cocaine crashed on take off.

The Cessna twin-engine ­aircraft crashed while attempting to take off from a remote airstrip north of Port Moresby in 2020 after arriving from Mareeba.

The plane had flown from Far North Queensland to PNG at 3000 feet in what investigators referred to as a “black flight” to avoid radar detection and any monitoring from ­authorities.

Queensland man David John Cutmore (inset), who was pilot of the plane, handed himself in and was sentenced to 18 years in jail in PNG in 2022. He has since appealed the sentence.

Italian yacht owner Carlos D’Attanasio faced the National Court in Bomana this week and was sentenced to 19 years on two counts of money-laundering, local media reported.

Shane Dikana, 34, and Morgan Mogu, 38, of PNG and Dominic Terupo, 38, of Mortlock Island in Bougainville were sentenced to18 years on two counts of money-laundering.

Authorities had alleged 28 bags of cocaine were taken on board a yacht from Panama in Central America to PNG before it was anchored at sea.

The drugs were moved on to a dinghy, taken to a local ­village and then on to Port Moresby by vehicle.

The overloaded plane crashed as it tried to take off in July 2020.

Four Australian men have also been charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled substance with their matters continuing through the courts.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have alleged the men were part of a Melbourne-based group that has links to Italian organised crime. The arrests took place after a two-year multi-agency ­investigation.

A pre-trial hearing for the men was adjourned in May.

Police have warned that PNG and other Pacific nations are being used as “drug transit hubs” to import drugs because of the lucrative profits cartels could make.

AFP seizure figures show that 272.4kg of cocaine was seized in Queensland in 2022, which increased 107 per cent to 565.2kg in 2023.