Aussie pop star’s uncle charged in Sydney airport AN0M sting

The uncle of an Australian pop star is among six men accused of being members of an AN0M-linked drug syndicate operating out of Sydney Airport.

A security company director, a part-time courier driver and the uncle of a pop star are among six men accused of being members of a corrupt drug syndicate operating out of Sydney Airport.

The men, arrested by the Australian Federal Police on October 13, include one current and five former employees of the United Arab Emirates-owned ground handling company Dnata.

The six, who police allege were all in possession of an encrypted AN0M phone, are accused of being part of a syndicate which was involved in a failed attempt to smuggle drugs into Australia on an international flight.

The men are among 29 so-called “trusted insiders’’ arrested by the Australian Federal Police across Australia as part of Operation Ironside, the nation’s largest police sting, which saw 300 people charged after police deployed a Trojan horse encrypted app known as AN0M into the underworld.

The charges against the Sydney six were laid four months after the Australian Federal Police and the FBI switched off AN0M, after collecting more than 25 million messages exchanged by users of the devices. Most of the men live close by in Sydney’s southern suburbs, in easy commuting distance to Sydney’s Mascot Airport.

Sydney Airport Freight Terminal. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Dnata, which stands for Dubai National Air Travel Agency, is owned by the Emirates Group, which includes the airline, and which in turn is owned by the royal family of the United Arab Emirates.

The company is working closely with police as they investigate the charged men’s activities and connections.

Those charged include Mende Trajkoski, 42, of Oatley. A former employee of Dnata, he most recently worked as a part-time courier driver.

Mende Trajkoski. Picture: Facebook

A former Dnata colleague and associate of his, Nikolao Misa, 37, of Rockdale, was also arrested. Misa is a director of the Sydney-based company Shield Security, which has an office in suburban Kogarah. The men were both charged with directing one or more activities of a criminal organisation that was involved in the importation of border controlled drugs.

A third man charged is Elias Hachem, 47, of Banksia, who states on his social media he worked for Alpha Flight Services, which has since been rebranded as Dnata catering. Hachem states on his Facebook page that he attended Kogarah High School.

Elias Hachem. Picture: Facebook

The fourth man charged, Astro Waetford, 36, of Cronulla, is a handy suburban rugby player and the uncle of pop singer and actor Jai Waetford. A video on Astro Waetford’s YouTube channel from eight years ago shows him playing guitar with his talented nephew. There is no suggestion Jai Waetford, who found fame on the X Factor and Neighbours, is connected to the syndicate.

A former Dnata employee, Waetford was charged with associating with members of a criminal organisation that was involved in the importation of border controlled drugs, for the purpose of supporting serious organised criminal activity.

Jai Waetford, who is not connected to the syndicate. Picture: Christian Gilles

The fifth man charged, Ali Khanafer, 31, of Mortdale, is also a former employee, while the sixth man charged, Frank Meredith, 32, of Liverpool, was employed as a baggage handler by Dnata.

Khanafer, Meredith and Hachem were charged with providing material support and resources to aid a criminal organisation that was involved in the importation of border controlled drugs.

All six men will appear in court next month.

In an earlier matter, Meredith’s wife, Sibel Ergun, 35, of Liverpool, was charged with handling proceeds of crime, after police seized more than $100,000 in cash from a property connected to the couple. She is not accused of being part of the airport syndicate.

Cash seized by police at an address in Liverpool. Picture: AFP

The Australian Federal Police alleged the six men were members of a criminal syndicate “who consisted of past and present employees of a service provider at the airport’’, and who planned to import an unknown quantity of border controlled drugs concealed within a cargo box in the hold of a commercial aircraft on March 2020.

“The importation did not occur due to reduced flight schedules as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the syndicate undertook significant planning toward this endeavour,’’ police alleged in a statement.

“This included distributing encrypted AMOM devices to each of the six members and canvassing for suitable exchange locations within the airside area of Sydney Airport.’’

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Originally published as Aussie pop star’s uncle charged in Sydney airport AN0M sting