Operation Ironside: Former bikie Baris Tukel pictured at dinner with fugitive drug lord Hakan Ayik

Details of a conversation involving Baris Tukel, the ex-bikie hit with FBI charges in the AN0M sting, who is close to Hakan Ayik, have been revealed.

Baris Tukel, the former Australian bikie hit with racketeering charges by the FBI over the underworld encrypted app AN0M – has been photographed at a dinner with fugitive drug lord Hakan Ayik.

The dinner, at an up-market restaurant believed to be in the Turkish capital of Istanbul, was uploaded to Instagram by Ayik’s wife, Dutch woman Fleur Messelink, before being deleted.

Taken in 2015, it shows a table of revellers, including Ayik, Tukel, and former Comanchero heavy Duax Ngakuru, celebrating Ms Messelink’s birthday.

Hakan Ayik's wife Fleur Messelink posted this photo of a dinner attended by crime figures.

Tukel, a former Comanchero Sergeant-at-Arms, and Ayik, a Comanchero associate, have both been charged by the FBI with racketeering in relation to the encrypted device AN0M, which was used by the criminal underworld, but was secretly operating as a law enforcement spy app and sending the messages straight to the Australian Federal Police.

Hakan Ayik’s wife Fleur Messelink on the night of her birthday dinner.

In court documents unsealed by the US District Court overnight, Tukel was accused of racketeering by the FBI, who alleged he was both a distributor of the AN0M devices, and an influencer who encouraged others to use it.

The FBI stated in its affidavit that Tukel was residing in Turkey, and accused him and the other 16 defendants of making millions of dollars profit by distributing AN0M. The FBI also claimed in its affidavit that ANOM was being marketed to potential clients as an app designed “by criminals, for criminals.’’

Former Comanchero heavy Daux Ngakuru was at the birthday dinner.

In a separate document unsealed by the court this week, an FBI affidavit made in order to secure a search warrant spelled out what it alleges is communications between Tukel and another Australia who has also been charged with RICO offences, Shane Geoffrey May, who lives in Indonesia.

According to the FBI affidavit, Tukel was an AN0M user known as JID 58f4a9, who on March 23, 2020, asked May, known as JID cfdf8a, about the current price of cocaine.

A “JID’’ stands for “Jibber Identification’’ and is assigned to AN0M users by administrators.

“Tukel also asked if May had “that building block address.” May replied that cocaine was around the 200k mark and asked if Tukel had some news,’’ the affidavit stated.

Fugitive drug lord Hakan Ayik.

“Tukel wrote, “Ok sweet, gfcv got a small job that popped up for [t]he building block” and “There is 2kg put inside french diplomatic sealed envelopes out of Bogotta [sic]” and “They have already got a few packages in.”

“Tukel added, “Only issue is that COL takes 50/4 Partners including yourself will need to split other 50” (meaning the Colombian distributors take 50% of the profits while four other people split the other 50%).’’

The FBI affidavit went on to allege that: “Tukel wrote, “They can do it weekely [sic]” (meaning packages containing two kilograms can be sent every week). May responded that this sounded good and he would send the address shortly.

“Tukel then sent three photos: two of the French diplomatic pouches and one of the available cocaine to send.’’

The FBI stated that Tukel had sent the photograph of cocaine packages, then wrote: “There waiting to be sent from this crew.” Tukel added later in the conversation, “They landed these jobs in brisbane (Australia) already.”

A photograph of what appears to be one of the pouches was included in the affidavit, which included a portion of the front page from the Brisbane-based Courier Mail newspaper, which was published on March 18, 2020.

Despite his senior bikie role, Tukel has mainly stayed out of the spotlight in Australia.

Do you know more? Email us at [e-mail]