- Australian pilot killed in plane crash in Brazil
- Authorities are investigating links to drug trafficking
An Australian pilot has been killed after his light plane carrying 200kg of SpaceX-branded cocaine crashed into a sugarcane field in Brazil.
Timothy J. Clark, 46, was flying over Coruripe, on the coast of the Alagoas region in Brazil’s remote north-east, when his plane crashed around 1.30pm on Sunday.
Clark, the sole occupant of the aircraft, died at the scene.
Authorities are investigating whether Clark was involved in an international drug route, local media outlet Gazeta reports.
The plane was registered in the African nation of Zambia – although had been operating in Brazil for at least the last two years – and the destination of the flight is still unknown. No flight details were recorded with authorities.
Testing identified the drugs found onboard as cocaine, and were wrapped in bricks carring the SpaceX branding of Elon Musk‘s spacecraft and rocket division.
Local law enforcement estimated the seizure was worth around nine million Brazilian Real (around AU$2.5million) to the shipment’s druglords.
But while it remains unclear where the illicit substances were intended to be sold, 200kg of cocaine would have an estimated street value of $80million in Australia.
An Australian pilot has died after a plane crashed in Brazil (pictured)
Tim Clark, 46, was the sole occupant of the aircraft
Authorities found 200kg of drugs in the wreckage of the plane fuselage
Tests have confirmed the substance to be cocaine and carried Elon Musk’s SpaceX branding
In Brazil, one gram of cocaine costs $5, about the same as the local price of a packet of cigarettes while the same amount may fetch between $250 and $400 in Australia, which has among the highest prices for the drug in the world.
Although very little cocaine is made in Brazil, with Colombia topping the production list and contributing around 70 per cent of the world’s supply, the former Portugese colony plays a major role in global drug distribution.
A 2016 report by the United Nations found that Brazil was the most frequently cited departure point of cocaine arriving in African, Asian and European markets after Colombia.
This is largely due to Brazil being surrounded by coca plant-producing nations – Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia, to the north and west – with loosely monitored and sparsely populated borders.
The nation is also the world’s second-largest consumer of cocaine (after the United States) because the drug, which is typically used by the upper-middle class in most countries, is most accessible across socio-economic groups.
