Dubai police set “zero hour” to make arrests involving Ibrahim family figures

DUBAI police have revealed how they had set a “zero hour” together with police in NSW and The Netherlands to arrest five of Sydney’s most colourful figures after they stepped off a luxury cruiser.

• How police cracked the Ibrahim family code
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DUBAI police have revealed how they set a “zero hour” together with police in NSW and the Netherlands for the arrest of five of Sydney’s most notorious figures after they stepped ashore from a luxury cruiser.

The men spent Monday afternoon cruising the crystal waters of the Persian Gulf, ­unaware that Dubai anti-narcotics officers and the Australian Federal Police had been monitoring their every move.

Michael Ibrahim was arrested in Dubai.

Fadi Ibrahim is currently awaiting extradiction.

After the boat docked at the up-market Pier Seven in the Marina district, Fadi Ibrahim, the brother of Kings Cross ­nightclub owner John, said his goodbyes as he prepared to head to the airport.

Police swooped as his brother Michael Ibrahim, ­together with Stephen Elmir and Mustapha Dib — released from jail last year after being acquitted of murder — made their way to an expensive celebratory dinner in a nearby seven-storey block housing the city’s smartest eateries.

Police swooped on the group as the docked at the up-market Pier Seven in the Marina district.

They were taken into custody along with their mate ­Comanchero bikie Hakan Arif, known as “Little Hux”, and held as part of Operation Veyda, the global investigation into alleged organised crime and the planned $810 million importation of drugs which had been seized in Holland.

“In the ‘zero hour’ set by the three countries, Dubai Police raided a restaurant in Dubai and arrested the five suspects,” Dubai Police Major-General Khalil Ebrahim said.

Mustapha Dib was among the group partying in Dubai.

ohn Ibrahim’s home was raided but he has not been arrested or charged

The men are thought to be locked up in holding cells at Al Barsha police station. It is currently a sweltering 45C in Dubai and the men are sweating it out with other prisoners in the underground cells.

Extradition through the courts normally takes 60 days but in a bid to reduce the time to just four days, the matter has been handed to Interpol.

Dubai police with Australian authorities had been monitoring the group’s every move.

Major-General Khalil Ebrahim said the operation began two years ago when the police departments put together a list of people to be investigated for their alleged involvement with the two organised crime gangs.

“The anti-narcotic department of the Ministry of Interior provided important information in the case and in the ‘zero hour’ set by the three countries, Dubai Police raided a restaurant in Dubai and arrested the five suspects, including the two brothers,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri said.

Dubai CID police filmed the dramatic arrests as the men made their way to a restaurant in a nearby seven-storey block housing the city’s smartest eateries including Fume, The Scene by Simon Rimmer and Asia Asia.

Dubai has become a playground for Sydney identities.

Dubai’s major newspaper, the Gulf News, ran the story about the Australian drug arrests on its front page yesterday.

The city has become a favourite playground for some of Sydney’s more notorious partygoers because of its luxury hotels, open bars and abundance of Eastern European women.

A Dubai Government spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph: “This has all been very hush, we haven’t been told too much as it had been a collaboration between various authorities but the matter has now been transferred to Interpol authorities.”

Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, commander in chief of Dubai Police, said His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aimed to have a safe society and “his vision was a strong motivation for all police officers to do their best in securing the society from all threats even from outside the country”.