I thought "space x cocaine" was just a euphemism for ketamine
— Goatlady 🐐 (@wolvendaughter.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Yeah, I was pretty dubious too…
An Australian pilot has been killed after his plane carrying almost 200kg of cocaine wrapped in fake SpaceX packaging crashed into a sugarcane field in Brazil, local media reported.
Authorities said the pilot was found dead outside the aircraft after it crashed in Coruripe, an area on Brazil’s tropical coastline, according to G1 Globo…
Local media said between 180kg and 195kg of cocaine was found in the aircraft. More than 187 packets of cocaine were found with what appeared to be fake SpaceX packaging – a company run by billionaire Elon Musk.
The drugs were taken to the Integrated Public Security Centre in Coruripe, according to local media. Federal police did not say where the plane took off from or where it was headed, according to G1, but the aircraft was carrying extra fuel tanks, which raised suspicion that the plane was travelling a long distance…
It is believed that the aircraft was using Alagoas as a stopover on an international drug trafficking route, Em Tempo Noticias said. Investigations are also looking into whether the pilot was familiar with air routes within Brazil.
The plane was registered to Zambia, according to the Daily Mail, although it had been operating in Brazil for at least two years. No flight details were recorded…
Space X can't even keep their cocaine from crashing!
— pcrritesgood.bsky.social (@pcrritesgood.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
But the story has been sufficiently widespread that Snopes has been forced to take an interest — “Unpacking reports of SpaceX-branded cocaine found in Brazilian plane crash”:
… Users on social media platforms such as Facebook (archived), X (archived), YouTube and Instagram (archived) shared the claims, further purporting the crash site suggested the flight path was along a known drug-trafficking route. The popularity of the rumors led Snopes readers to email us, questioning the veracity of the claim.
We have opted not to give this claim a rating as Snopes was unable to verify any of the reports first-hand. We’ve reached out to SpaceX and the Alagoas Civil Police — law enforcement authorities in the state where Coruripe is located — for comment and will update this article if we hear back…
On Sept. 15, a report by Australian news outlet news.com.au said the pilot was identified as an Australian man from the state of Victoria. The pilot was further identified as 46-year-old Australian businessman Timothy James Clark, according to The Daily Mail…
Snopes was unable to independently verify these reports but will update this article if more information becomes available.
Space-X Cocaine: "It's safer than our rockets."
— Kevin (@ckstoopkid.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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A bunch of comments below express belief that it's actually SpaceX cocaine (despite the article saying the packaging was fake). C'mon guys; if Musk were going to label lots of cocaine for shipping, he'd wouldn't label it Space X cocaine. He'd label it USAID cocaine. Duh.
— J. Offir, PhD (@joffirphd.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 9:09 PM
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Sure I could make a joke about Space X branded cocaine, but then I’d have to admit to living in a world where that’s a thing.
— Dirk Lester 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 ✌🏾 (@dirk2112.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 7:33 PM
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I know it's very much a pipe dream but "Space X was a giant front for moving cocaine worldwide" wouldn't even be all that shocking to my brain
— Theodore Painsworth (@itty53.bsky.social) September 16, 2025 at 6:10 PM
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The unforgiving memory of The Internets:
There’s video of Don Jr at Space X launch putting his finger in his pocket and rubbing his gums. Cocaine?
— Marta (@martasm5.bsky.social) November 21, 2024 at 10:14 AM
SeattleDem
Frist!
SeattleDem
When your engineers need to work around the clock, why not bring in your own supply? It has to work better than Mountain Dew.
KrackenJack
A celebrated entrepreneur dealing drugs to prop up his failing car company after its futuristic stainless steel model fails to move? That’s inconceivable!
CaseyL
If Musk wants to traffic cocaine, he has an entire national government to run interference for him. He could probably bring it in by containership, and have government officials unload it for him.
Another Scott
@KrackenJack: Run DMC!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
ColoradoGuy
A repeat of the DeLorean auto company finale? Somehow it wouldn’t be too surprising.
All of the administration freaks being as high as kites on MAGA/Musk cocaine would be completely on-brand for them.
mrmoshpotato
I wonder how angry American Psycho Don Jr is about this plane crash. Was that his personal dealer?
Kayla Rudbek
@ColoradoGuy: the Nazis abused methamphetamines, after all (amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Third-Norman-Ohler/dp/1328663795 and cocaine was legal during WW1). The Germans were great chemists prior to WW1, to the point where if you wanted to study organic chemistry, you needed to learn German (and many of the organic chemistry terms and the whole thing of “chemical name is impossibly long because we’re shoving all the terms together” is also German in my opinion)
Splitting Image
I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked to find out that SpaceX leadership has a cocaine problem.
Laws are for little people.
toine
Off topic, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the title was Shriekback. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who loves this band or knows of their existence…
Everything That Rises Must Converge
hueyplong
Both everything and nothing are believable at this point, so it seems almost pointless to have a reaction to this story.
Leto
David Letterman on Colbert, Kimmel, and authoritarianism.
prostratedragon
Don’t know why they would do such a thing, but these are not very bright guys, …
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Nose Candy One down!
glc
So even though it wasn’t actually SpaceX, it crashed. I admire that kind of commitment to authenticity.
NotMax
Co-inkydink?
SpaceX plans Starship to carry drug products to space.
JoyceH
So should we start making book on which country musician will release The Ballad of Charlie Kirk, and how soon it will hit the airwaves?
BellyCat
Popcorn futures, once again, sky high.
Ishiyama
“I got a nickel, you got a dime, you bring the cocaine and I’ll bring the wine.”
Mai Naem mobile
@mrmoshpotato: not as angry as Kash ‘Sniffy’ Patel.
SpaceUnit
They’d have been better off labeling it as Not Cocaine.
Ten Bears
That’s the back of a pickup … and yeah, I’m sure someday some spectral being with whom the xians have entered into some kind of ethereal contract is gonna’ float down out of the sky on a
flyingfloating rainbow unicorn with thousand of angelic young male “helpers” onflyingfloating rainbow unicorns to carry them all away to paradiseBruce K in ATH-GR
@ColoradoGuy: Wasn’t the DeLorean cocaine thing ultimately shown to be entrapment?
Repatriated
@toine: You aren’t alone!
Repatriated
@Repatriated: (Past the edit window)
Its lyrics include a shout-out to a Quincy Jones song, too: Ai No Corrida
bobbo1
Now that Emperor Trump has ended all drug trade by Venezuelan fishermen, and very strongly, the international narco-terrorists have resorted to AIRPLANES.
bjacques
@toine: I saw them live, for their Oil And Gold tour. They were phenomenal. I’d been hooked since hearing Hand On My Heart on college radio.
Baud
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@toine: I had the exact same thought about that Shriekback song! I have one of their albums on vinyl! Had the one with this song on cassette tape but all my tapes went bad – could barely hear the music through the tape hiss, so I got rid of them because they weren’t worth listening to anymore.
satby
@Ten Bears: That’s the back of a pickup
Well, yeah. They weren’t going to leave it all at a crash scene were they?
Weird story, but these are weird times.
@Baud: 👏👏😂
Another Scott
@Ten Bears: Good catch. Though Mitsubishi makes planes, that isn’t one.
Made me look.
G1.Globo.com seems to be the main source. (It’s in Brazilian Portuguese – Google Translate works fairly well for the text.)
ZU-IXM is the plane’s registration number.
Aircraft Factory Sling 4 – it’s a kit plane from South Africa:
Zooks! It sounds like a death trap!
:-(
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gvg
Why would you put a company brand on blocks of cocaine? I mean I don’t know of anything space x sells that comes in a package that looks like that so it’s not even a disguise? This seems like a stupid story. It doesn’t even make sense to me as a smear on space x. Sorry. Even if it was going to them, i don’t think it would be decorated like that inside Brazil.
Another Scott
@Gvg: Isn’t it pretty common for street drugs to have topical names or big-brand names?
Snopes.com:
FWIW.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
S Cerevisiae
@Another Scott:
It wouldn’t surprise me if there is Trump brand cocaine.
lowtechcyclist
@toine:
“Everything That Rises Must Converge” was the title of a Flannery O’Connor short story originally published in 1961.
TBH, I just found that out by Googling, but I first heard the phrase back in the mid-1960s sometime, so I figured it likely predated Shriekback.
I’ve long wondered if, by that logic, everything that sinks must diverge.
Uncle Cosmo
I’m holding out for the Crapture – when the Faithful are lifted up bodily by some invisible force and dropped head-down into the intake pond of the nearest waste treatment plant to get a Faceful of sewage.
Paul in KY
@glc: Ha! Wish I’d said that.
Paul in KY
@Another Scott: When you’re high on blow you always think it will go.
Paul in KY
@S Cerevisiae: Wrapped in gold tone foil…
Edit: And also crappy product as well.