LONDON (Chatnewstv.com) — An Australian pilot who died when his small plane laden with cocaine crashed in Brazil has been linked to an alleged associate of the notorious Irish Kinahan drug cartel who is awaiting trial for a multimillion-dollar cocaine importation scheme in Australia, according to a new investigation.
The body of Timothy James Clark, 46, a former Melbourne stockbroker, was found amid the wreckage of his single-engine aircraft and 200 kilograms of cocaine in a sugarcane field in northeastern Brazil on Sept. 14, Brazilian media reported.
In a report published Saturday, the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat revealed it had found direct links between Clark and Oliver Andreas Herrmann, a German businessman arrested in Western Australia in December 2024. Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged Herrmann after discovering 200 kilograms of cocaine in his hotel room, alleging he had met a small aircraft at a remote airstrip the day before.
“Bellingcat has now uncovered evidence linking alleged Kinahan cartel associate Herrmann to Timothy Clark,” the outlet reported in a collaboration with The Sunday Times of London.
The investigation uncovered a digital trail connecting the two men, including a 2018 photograph Clark posted online showing them dining together in Harare, Zimbabwe. The report also detailed overlapping travel patterns and associations, with Clark having reviewed two Zimbabwean establishments that cartel leader Christy Kinahan later visited, according to Kinahan’s own public Google Maps profile.
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group is a major international drug and arms trafficking syndicate. The U.S. government has sanctioned its leadership and offered a collective $15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Christy Kinahan and his two sons, Daniel and Christopher Jr.
Previous reporting by The Sunday Times revealed that Herrmann had “close financial ties” to Christy Kinahan.
The new investigation also found that a second aircraft operated by Clark for “legitimate” flights was purchased by a company linked to Herrmann’s partner, further cementing the connection between the two men’s operations.
According to The Sunday Times, the alleged activities suggest the Kinahan cartel has been developing new smuggling routes using heavily modified light aircraft for smaller, transatlantic drug shipments following major seizures by European authorities.
Herrmann, who has no known prior convictions, has not yet entered a plea in the Australian case. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 10.
