Drug Cartel Paid Funds to Account in the Name of PNG’s Chief Migration Officer

Stanis Hulahau, former PNG chief migration officer, denies any knowledge of the $10,000 payment, or the visa, but has subsequently resigned.

An Australian Federal Police photo showing the light plane flown from PNG to Queensland in March 2023, and bags allegedly containing methamphetamine that were found inside it. Courtesy of AFP

A drug cartel allegedly run by a China-born businesswoman paid $10,000 (US$6,500) into a bank account in the name of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) former migration chief to obtain a visa, court filings show. It was part of a plan to fly a light plane loaded with drugs from PNG to Australia.

Mei “Gigi” Lin, now a naturalised PNG citizen, was arrested and charged in Brisbane in January for allegedly playing a key role in facilitating a “black flight” in March 2023 that carried over 71 kilograms (156.5 pounds) of methamphetamine from a remote PNG airstrip to the Australian town of Monto, in the North Burnett Region of Queensland. At the 2021 census, it had a population of just 1,156 people.