A FEARED Mexican crime gang has been using private jets to fly tonnes of cocaine into Australia.
Authorities in the United States say the same aircraft have then shipped millions of dollars back to a drug lord working for the ruthless Sinaloa cartel.
Big cash paydays of up to 10 per cent of the profits were allegedly offered to pilots prepared to make the round trip.
The allegations are outlined in a criminal complaint lodged by the US Drug Enforcement Agency in the US District Court in Illinois against Jose "Juanito" Mares-Barragan, a 31-year-old accused of being the co-head of a Chicago drug trafficking gang working for Sinaloa.
"If he wants to go big, we can go big," Mares-Barragan allegedly told an informant, codenamed CS1, during a recorded meeting to discuss enticing a pilot to fly cocaine from South America to Central America.
The pilot would make $US500,000 ($514,750) for each South America-Central America flight and CS1 would earn between $US30,000 and $US50,000 for introducing the pilot to Mares-Barragan, documents filed in court allege.
Mares-Barragan also allegedly told the informant "$US1500 per brick" would be earned for transporting 20 to 25 bricks of cocaine from California to Chicago. Mares-Barragan's former co-head of the Chicago drug operation has become a "reliable" key informant for authorities, in the hope of receiving a reduced sentence, and is referred to as "Individual A" in court documents.
According to the complaint against Mares-Barragan, CS1 and Individual A met on January 13, 2012 and the movement of cocaine from the US to Australia was discussed.
"Individual A advised that his/her associates were moving millions of dollars per month from Australia to the United States, and that the money was being used to purchase cocaine to be sold in Australia," special agent for the DEA Christopher O'Reilly wrote in the criminal complaint lodged against Mares-Barragan.
"In prior meetings between CS1 and Individual A, CS1 had pretended to be a pilot.
"Individual A asked CS1 whether he/she was interested in moving millions of dollars from Australia to the United States."
Mares-Barragan was arrested on January 22 and charged with conspiracy to attempt to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine.
He has been refused bail and is being held at Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Centre.
The Australian Federal Police last night congratulated US authorities on the breakthrough.
A spokeswoman said it would not comment on whether Sinaloa had come to its attention before or whether Australian elements of the operation were under investigation.
"It is not appropriate to comment further on matters which may relate to intelligence holdings," she said.
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