I've lived in this area of Brisbane most of my adult life, coming and going after periods away....
It is quiet and understated drug area, the drugs are around you just have to find them. Not like some suburbs where the drugs find you.
When I was in high school at Albany Creek (the suburb where the c300 was located) it was a well known drug suburb. Just hidden under the surface, not in your face. Same as Aspley and Chermside.
So it would not surprise me at all if it was drug related - but that will not be confirmed until the information is released from the search if it is released.
He probably got caught up in a syndicate and owed money. Perhaps the mustang was bought with profits or funds that were not his and they came to collect? Just speculation and only my opinion.
Unfortunately on a lot of occasions when parents say 'oh he was a quiet boy, loved doing this or that and didn't have trouble with anyone', it's because they didn't know, or are in denial that their child is involved in bad things. Sometimes if they look outside the bubble they may have information that can help police. They may not know it, but denying your child is involved in something shady isn't going to help. I think that may be what some of the comments in the press conference were in reference to. Their comments struck me as VERY odd.
It's natural to think your kids are good and I understand that the parents are grieving. It sounds like their son will be found, but not alive.
It must be heart breaking.
Honestly, my parents never knew half the stuff I got up to as a child in the 80's-90's. Never anything illegal, but if I did, they probably wouldn't know.
I just hope for his parent's sake they find him one way or the other. It's better to know than never know.
But the rain is not going to help their efforts if the evidence is outside like the waste dump. It's absolutely pouring here and hasn't stopped. More rain is forecast and wind.