• Qantas has around 150 employees with troubling links to criminal organisations, Australian intelligence has concluded.
• Reporting by Nine media has revealed that a group of “trusted insiders” within Qantas have significant links to bikie gangs, with the Comancheros and Hells Angels group, using their connections to import billions of dollars worth of narcotics.
• Those briefed fear the links are a risk to national security, compromising Australia’s strict border controls.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia’s largest airline has put national security at risk, with parts of the organisation compromised by crime gangs, classified intelligence has concluded.

Joint reporting by the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes has revealed fears within the intelligence community that bikie gangs and crime syndicates have used Qantas to infiltrate Australia’s borders, and import billions of dollars worth of narcotics.

The revelations are detailed by an intelligence operation codenamed Project Brunello, which found that around 150 current Qantas employees have criminal links, with some having ascended to relatively powerful positions within the airline.

“Given we follow all of the government’s vetting procedures, we find these claims disturbing,” Qantas Group chief security officer Luke Bramah told Nine media.

“We have not been advised of any current investigations of Qantas Group employees involved in organised crime. If concerns are raised regarding any of our employees, we will actively support their investigation and take appropriate action.”

Bramah added that under the Trusted Trader accreditation issued by the Australian Border Force, “every single employee connected to international air freight must pass a fit and proper test. We’ve not been advised by Border Force of any of our employees failing this test.”

Yet despite that, a Brunello report concluded that collectively this group of Qantas employees is able to “cause significant harm” to the Australian community by compromising security protocols and enabling the importation of drugs and other harmful materials across the country’s international border.

Among the most concerning revelations is the existence of an elite cohort, referred to by the report as “trusted insiders”, with ties to major crime syndicates.

Chief amongst them is an associate of the Comanchero motorcycle gang who has used their position in Qantas middle-management to recruit criminals into the airline, and help import drugs into the country. Working out of Sydney Airport, the man is also linked to cartel boss Hakan Ayik, who Nine journalists have tracked down to Turkey.

Others include a Northern Territory contractor linked to the Hells Angel’s motorcycle gang who had “infiltrated” flights conducted by The Australian Department of Defence. Another Perth contractor meanwhile was found to have used their position to transport large quantities of drugs.

For scale, separate revelations raised by an Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIO) inquiry said several cartel bosses were working together, making an estimated $1.5 billion in profit via the importation of narcotics.

At least some of that is making its way via the Australian airline, with Comanchero members of the so-named “Aussie Cartel” found to be linked to Qantas’ “trusted insiders”.

Intelligence agencies meanwhile found that Damian Flowers, a former Qantas baggage handler who pleaded guilty to importing $68.5 million worth of cocaine last month, actually brought in $1 billion of the stuff.

But the revelations go well beyond sating Australia’s appetite for drugs.

Five more are alleged to have links to “national security” criminality, such as Islamic extremism, but pose no current danger, one intelligence agency found. Seven others are linked to child exploitation – one of whom has been charged with manufacturing and importing child pornography – with Brunello suggesting there could even be a network of sex offenders working out of Brisbane airport.

Of those 150 individuals identified on the Qantas payroll, 23 workers were found to have already “used employment in the aviation environment to facilitate various criminal activities”. Almost 60 were linked to “serious drug offences” or “organised crime groups”. Unsurprisingly, the largest concentrations were found amongst Qantas’ baggage handlers and freight workers.

Significantly, it comes as the federal government considers introducing new rules that would allow airlines to use criminal intelligence in addition to criminal convictions, when assessing job candidates.

While the Morrison government and police are in favour of the new proposals, Labor has warned that such rules could unfairly hurt workers on the basis of allegations alone. Intelligence groups have disputed this characterisation, claiming the rules would be used only infrequently, use only verified information, with applicants able to appeal decisions.

“[If the laws] aren’t passed today, there’ll be 225 people … who are not convicted of any offences, but have very close links to serious and organised crime,” ACIO head Michael Phelan said.

Qantas told the Nine newspapers it was in favour of the new legislation.

“In addition to the criminal checks that happen every two years, we’d like to see real-time background checks, which means airlines and airports know immediately if an employee has been convicted of an offence, because it’s another safeguard,” Bramah said.

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