From luxury party yacht to Dubai jail cell for Fadi and Michael Ibrahim after police swoop

THEY spent $42,500 to party on a luxury yacht in Dubai, but a crew member says “you’d never have guessed” they had allegedly pulled off a staggering drug deal.

• Inside the drug case that shocked a city
• ‘Barbie doll and Mr Billionaire’: The crime codenames revealed
• Ibrahim girlfriend Sarah Budge gets bail after loaded pistol arrest

ONE moment they were sipping champagne and soaking up the sun as they enjoyed the party of their lives aboard a luxury yacht, the next they were sitting sweating in a Dubai jail cell desperate for a cup of water.

When police swooped in the highrolling city last week as part of a massive drug investigation that involved huge raids in Sydney and arrests in The Netherlands, four of the men now behind bars had a steep fall from grace.

The luxury yacht in Dubai’s marina. The accused splashed out $42,500 to party on board.

WHO IS THE MYSTERY MAN BEHIND IBRAHIM STING?

Fadi Ibrahim, 43, and his younger brother Michael, 39, were living it up in style with Stephen Elmir and Mustapha Dib in Dubai last Sunday, splashing out a massive $42,500 to party off the UAE coastline.

But little did they realise their celebrations over allegedly pulling off a staggering deal to bring two tonnes of ecstasy into Australia would soon come to an end.

At 1am local time last Monday, as the 86ft yacht they had hired at such great cost — festooned with red and white balloons — coasted into dock among the other multimillion-dollar vessels in the marina, police swooped outside the up-market Pier 7.

Fadi Ibrahim was arrested during the raids.

Michael Ibrahim was also picked up by authorities

All four of the men were swiftly taken into custody and have since spent seven days in sweltering prison cells. None resisted arrest.

“You’d never have guessed it was those same guys on the boat,” a crew member from Xclusive Yachts said.

“They weren’t raucous and there was nothing flashy about them. They had hired the yacht for 24 hours — it costs $US1400 ($A1750) an hour. They asked if they could bring their own Moet & Chandon onto the boat.”

The luxury Dubai marina where the group were arrested shortly after docking.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the men spent the first hour of arrest at the Dubai Police General HQ’s anti-narcotics department, where they underwent routine blood and urine tests for drugs. They have since been transferred to separate cells at Al Barsha police station’s underground male detention centre, where the searing summer temperatures regularly exceed 40C.

“The drug testing was conducted immediately,” police customer services officer Qaid Abdul Aziz said. “The results are already known. Al Barsha is a good jail, there are three meals a day, a phone box and set smoking times … They are being well looked after.”

Dubai CID officers, who filmed the swoop as part of a cross-continent collaboration with Australian Federal Police and the Dutch National Crime Squad to dismantle organised crime webs, seized footage from CCTV cameras trained on the marina to piece together the movements of their key targets in the past few weeks.

Dubai has become a playground for Sydney identities

The group were living it up on-board, complete with Moet and Chandon.

Arrested in another sting was Australian expat Koder Jomaa, 47, who runs a clean-eating cafe called Fit Food Kitchen and lives in an apartment block on the marina.

Police chiefs allege father-of-two Jomaa, from Kogarah in Sydney’s south, was instrumental in a syndicate conspiracy to import 200 kilograms of MDMA via sea cargo to Australia. Police will also claim the syndicate was responsible for smuggling 50 million cigarettes into Australia and actively engaged in money laundering activities here and abroad.

They have now swapped the luxury of a yacht for the sweltering cells at Al barsha police station.

The Ibrahim brothers’ friend and Comanchero bikie Hakan Arif, dubbed “Little Hux”, was also arrested as part of Operation Veyda, a global investigation into alleged organised crime and the planned importation of drugs seized in Holland.

Dubai has become a magnet for Sydney’s more notorious partygoers, drawn to its luxury hotels, glamorous bars and abundance of Eastern European women.

Mustapha Dib. Picture: Kym Smith

Koder Jomaa.

Since the early 2000s there has been a boom in the real estate and property sector fuelled by foreign buyers being allowed to invest.

The Ibrahims, whose brother John is known as the “King of the Cross” for his extensive nightclub empire, have been regular visitors to Dubai for more than five years, partying with shock jock pal Kyle Sandilands, who holidays in the UAE every year. John Ibrahim is not facing any charges.

Shockjock Kyle SAndilands and John Ibrahim.

Fadi Ibrahim’s wife Shayda Bastani-Rad’s brother lives in the city and Michael Ibrahim’s Instagram account boasts posts of him sitting in business class on trips to Dubai. Those visits had increased in the past two years.

Police allege Michael Ibrahim was the key organiser in the deal, employing his cousin, cafe owner Fares Derbas, to allegedly distribute the packets of cigarettes around Sydney in a truck. He allegedly made $7.50 profit per pack, while Derbas is believed to have pocketed 50c for every packet he distributed­.

Fadi Ibrahim. Picture: Stephen Cooper

Shayda Bastani Rad.

Fadi and Michael Ibrahim are among 18 arrested in the raids, including John’s son Daniel, three of their cousins and 12 others.

The extradition requests for the men have been fast-tracked by the UAE’s Attorney-General’s Office but it could still take up to three weeks.

All were in possession of valid visas and were not accused of any involvement in drug trafficking or promotion in the UAE.