Five charged over Australia-bound cocaine in crashed plane

Five alleged members of an Australia-based organised crime ring have been charged after hundreds of kilos of cocaine were discovered in a plane that crashed after takeoff in Papua New Guinea, police said Saturday. The five, all described as members of a Melbourne-based criminal syndicate with alleged links to Italian organised crime, were charged with conspiring to import 500 kilogrammes of cocaine worth some Aus$80 million (USD$57 million) and…