A small plane which crashed shortly after takeoff on a flight from a remote airstrip in Papua New Guinea to Australia last week was overloaded with more than 500 kg (1,100 lb) of cocaine, police said on Saturday.
Police officers search a suspected drug trafficker in Atherton, Australia July 26, 2020. Picture taken July 26, 2020. Australian Federal Police/Handout via REUTERS
The five men were members of a Melbourne-based criminal syndicate, with alleged links to Italian organised crime, the police said. If convicted, all five face life imprisonment. The plane was found abandoned and empty. The drugs were subsequently recovered at a different location in Papua New Guinea.
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