‘Trusted insider’ linked Hakan Ayik drug syndicate charged in AN0M sting

These are the men accused of being linked to an international drug-smuggling ring with connections to one of the world’s most wanted criminals Hakan Ayik.

A man charged by police over an alleged international drug-smuggling operation is accused of being part of a criminal syndicate connected to Comanchero associate and global drug fugitive Hakan Ayik in Turkey.

Jiun Loong Chai, 33, appeared in a Sydney court on Friday charged with taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

An employee of a freight-forwarding firm, he is the first person charged under phase two of Operation Ironside, the three-year Australian Federal Police operation built around the use of the Trojan horse encrypted app AN0M.

Police allege that he is a trusted insider and member of a syndicate that includes two relatives of Ayik, one of the world’s wanted criminals, who fled Australia 10 years ago and remains in hiding in Turkey.

The 33-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, accused of knowingly taking part in the supply of methamphetamine. Supplied: Australian Federal Police

The relatives are Yusuf Ayik, 20, of Brighton-Le-Sands, and Ayhan Dogan, 23, also of Brighton-Le-Sands. The pair have previously been charged with drug supply offences, and are both close relatives of Hakan Ayik, believed to be nephews.

Ayhan Dogan is also the brother of another Comanchero member who is hiding out in Turkey, Erkan Dogan, who has been indicted by the FBI on racketeering charges, accused of being a distributor and an influencer of the encrypted AN0M platform and devices.

A fourth man has also been accused by police of being a member of the syndicate. FedEx deliver driver Hakan Calason, 37, of Carlton in suburban Sydney, is accused of collecting drugs as they arrived via airfreight, and arranging to deliver them to other alleged members of the syndicate.

Phase two of Operation Ironside has seen police identify 160 people including bikies, Mafia figure and trusted insiders such as lawyers, for arrest in coming months.

It follows phase one, which resulted in 311 people being charged in Australia, along with almost 700 more people across the globe.

Australian Federal Police Detective inspector Matthew Ciantar.

Hakan Arif (Little Hux) and Hakan Ayik (Big Hux) believed to be hiding out in Turkey.

Detective-Superintendent Matt Ciantar of the AFP said the 33-year-old man from Chester Hill- later identified in court as Chai – had been arrested at his workplace, an unnamed freight-forwarding company, on Wednesday.

He was charged with knowingly take part in the supply of methamphetamine.

“This investigation is into a syndicate who we will allege had been importing illicit drugs into Australia,’’ Det Supt Ciantar said.

“We will allege this syndicate used trusted insiders at a multinational delivery service company to help them import a large quantities of drugs undetected through the airfreight system.

“We executed search warrants at the man’s home. Our officers allegedly found a replica Glock pistol, as well as cutting agent, some scales and other paraphernalia associated with drug supply.

“The man we arrested yesterday is the fourth person to be charged as a result of our efforts to dismantle this particular network.

“We are alleging that this particular network has links to Turkey-based Comanchero OMCG members.’’

Former Comanchero boss Duax Ngakuru in Turkey.

Police have alleged that in May, Chai paid $75,000 to Ahyan Dogan for what he thought was one kilogram of methamphetamine, before supplying it to another man.

Police further alleged that Dogan tried to rip Chai off and instead supplied soda crystals.

“The 23-year-old allegedly then received orders from an associate with links to an OMCG to refund the money,’’ a police statement said.

A court has previously seen messages recovered from the AN0M platform allegedly showing Erkan Dogan questioning Ayhan Dogan about the soda crystals.

“Why you’d rip him for bro, it’s going to bite u in the ass bro you can’t rip people bro they’ll do something to you,’’ a message police say was intercepted via AN0M read.

The previous court hearing was told Dogan eventually refunded the $75,000 to Chai, and threw the soda crystals into a bin on the side of the road in suburban Rockdale. Police allege they witnessed the disposal of the fake drugs and retrieved them from the bin.

Det Supt Ciantar police knew people were destroying their AN0M devices in an effort to hide their contents.

“However there’s nothing on their devices that we don’t already have.’’

The men are due back in court in February.