How a wire-wearing undercover operative infiltrated Ibrahim clan
For more than 18 months, an undercover operative infiltrated the inner circles of the Ibrahim clan and some of the country’s biggest drug dealers. This is the explosive account of how he did it. THE IBRAHIM TAPES: EXCLUSIVE TRANSCRIPTS
The man in the sports car began each working day in exactly the same way.
He’d sit in the driver’s seat and speak a monotone sentence into the recording device concealed on his body.
“The time is 10.32am on the 18th of November, 2016. I’m undercover operative 10729 using the assumed name Joe Smith*,” the man would say.
“I’m in the Double Bay area about to meet with Michael Ibrahim and Ryan Watsford for Strike Force Veyda.”
This was the clock-on for a remarkable 18 month investigation that has changed the face of organised crime in Sydney, making more than 150 recordings as he infiltrated one of the city’s most notorious families.
Listening live to every word was a team of police officers, keeping track of their man and the giant criminal conspiracy he was fabricating, luring in seasoned criminals with his sheer persuasiveness.
The introduction to every recording concluded with the same box-ticking line.
“During this deployment I may or may not use language and profanities that I don’t usually use and I apologise in advance for that,” Smith would say.
THE IBRAHIM TAPES: READ THE TRANSCRIPTS
‘I HELPED SALIM MEHAJER WITH HIS MONEY’
‘YOU’VE EMBARRASSED ME IN FRONT OF THESE GUYS’
‘WHY AREN’T YOUSE DOING F**KING RACK AND SH*T?’
‘WE’RE LOOKING AT 20 YEARS JAIL, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN’
Then the operative would switch off the engine, step out of the car and become someone else altogether: a charming, forceful professional smuggler and money-launderer with a secret technique that guaranteed containers full of drugs and cigarettes slipped past border officials.
When his work was done, this single agent — armed with nothing but the recording device — was responsible for the arrest of more than 20 people, including several Mr Bigs of the narcotics industry.
All up, the criminal syndicate allegedly conspired to import almost two tonnes of drugs and almost 1.4 million packets of black market cigarettes to Australia from the Middle East and Europe.
On Tuesday, the investigation’s main target, Michael Ibrahim — the younger brother of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim — pleaded guilty to nine charges, including conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
Details from the prosecution case, contained in documents tendered to court, can now be revealed.
Australian based drug lord Mostafa Dib, who arranged for 800kg of MDMA to be smuggled to Australia, also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of drugs. Watsford pleaded guilty in September to charges including conspiring to import drugs.
John Ibrahim has not been charged and there is no suggestion he committed any crime or engaged in any wrongdoing.
The undercover was so convincing that Michael formed a close bond with him.
Michael welcomed him to the Ibrahim inner circle, vouched for him with other criminals and told a high ranking bikie: “This guy … He’s like a brother to me.”
Michael encouraged the undercover to attend John Ibrahim’s exclusive weekly Monday poker night at his Eastern Suburbs mansion for an $8000 buy in and a wild Thailand boys trip.
But there was still that nagging thought in the back of Michael’s head that he was playing a dangerous game.
If he was wrong about his new friend, he risked being ostracised or worse by the alleged criminals he was introducing the undercover to.
“I vouch for you like I’ve known you all my life,” Michael told the undercover. “That’s what you got to understand. It falls on my head, because I sit there and vouch for you.”
When one member of the drug syndicate messaged Michael to ask if he trusted the undercover, his response was unequivocal: “100 per cent … He’s my mate.”
Michael is now in a prison cell, dealing with the reality that his bromance was a betrayal.
GETTING IN WITH THE IBRAHIMS
So how did the undercover gain their trust? And why didn’t Michael and a collection of the criminal elite spot him as an undercover?
In an age of the military-grade encrypted phone, they were taken down by an antique police strategy: a flawless performance in deception by a police operative wearing a wire.
That, and tangible results. The undercover delivered real cigarettes to Michael and Watsford. They sold them for millions on the black market and were spellbound.
The undercover sold himself as having access to a “door” service that guaranteed shipping containers weren’t scrutinised by the law.
It started with cigarettes, then turned to drug importing.
Michael corralled two drug syndicates allegedly featuring a who’s who of the underworld. They attempted to smuggle almost two tonnes of MDMA, cocaine and ice to Australia in three shipments.
They were happy to pay Michael and the undercover a 20 per cent fee to unlock the lucrative Australian market to their stockpiles stranded around the world.
The fake friendships flourished and the trap was set.
Once on the inside, he also heard Ibrahim family politics and a theory on a notorious unsolved murder. He was also privy to Michael’s opinions on his underworld peers, including that the Comanchero bikie gang were “living off their reputation from 2006.”
THE IBRAHIM TAPES: READ THE TRANSCRIPTS
PARTYING IN THAILAND WITH THE IBRAHIM FAMILY
HOW DEAL OVER SMUGGLED CIGARETTES TURNED UGLY
‘FOOLPROOF’ METHOD OF IMPORTING DRUGS INTO COUNTRY
‘I’VE GOT 50 KEGS OF COCAINE IN LEBANON READY’
GET THE LOOK
Every aspect of his fake personality had to be perfect.
In terms of being a character designed to appeal to the likes of Michael Ibrahim and Ryan Watsford, the undercover was a masterpiece.
He had the look and he walked the talk. From his gangster sports car to his charming and authoritative personality.
When supplying bootleg cigarettes, the undercover’s approach with Michael and Watsford was that they needed him, not the other way around.
He repeatedly told them “I’m a man of my word” and if they didn’t meet his conditions, he was happy to take his business elsewhere.
He presented himself as extremely risk-averse.
“You know me. I don’t like any of that shit. I don’t like drama. I walk away,” he said to Michael in December 2016.
It made Michael and Watsford try harder to please him.
At their first meeting at Sydney’s Sheraton on the Park in November 2016, Michael quickly put his hand up to be the undercover’s main cigarette distributor.
“Mate, since you’re fair dinkum, I’ll start dealing with you direct, if you’re keen,” Michael said. “I’ll move anything you want … you know no one’s ever going to rob me.”
The introduction to Michael was a result of Watsford’s incompetence.
Michael had been hiding in the shadows while Watsford dealt with the undercover for the cigarette sales. When Watsford messed up the logistics of a cigarette sale, Michael had to meet the undercover to mop up.
Keeping in character, the undercover tore shreds off Watsford when the sale fell through.
“I’m not desperate to sell these to you,” he yelled at Watsford.
“If the money’s not there, we’ll just do it another time … I’ve got other buyers lined up.”
Watsford grovelled: “Please I’m begging you … Mate, I need to f...... earn.”
The undercover’s well-planned backstory left little room for him to be caught out.
He frequently flew to Melbourne on the weekends to visit “cousins”, providing an excuse not to socialise with Michael and Watsford when it didn’t suit.
His parents didn’t live in Australia and he was temporarily living with his girlfriend’s sister and was in between living arrangements.
His true identity will never be known.
Even the name of his alter ego has been suppressed by the court and any descriptions that would identify him.
All that can be said is he was aged in his late 20s. At one point his targets tried to guess his ethnicity and got the wrong continent.
THE WIRE
Was it hidden on his body? In a shoe? Stitched into his shirt? An new age technology that was attached to his phone?
We know he got the recordings. It is just not known how he pulled it off without getting caught.
Technology on the mobile phone can be ruled out because there were several meetings where the undercover was directed to leave his phone behind while he, Michael and Watsford went “for a walk” to discuss business.
A clue came when the undercover said he hated the beach, so shirtless meetings were out.
“EVER THOUGHT ABOUT DOING RACK?” — MEETING THE DRUG LORDS
Four days after their first meeting, Michael upped the ante.
“Mate listen, I’ve got f … n’ 50 litres and 50 kegs of coke in Lebanon,” he told the undercover.
It was November 14, 2016, and they were sipping drinks at Sydney’s Sheraton on the Park.
Michael was late and Watsford had already stolen his thunder by revealing the name of their mate who had access to drugs overseas.
“Have you ever heard of Ferry?” Watsford asked the undercover.
“What’s his real name?” the undercover replied.
“Mostafa Dib,” Ryan said, before adding Dib had been jailed for murder. “He’s a good bloke.”
Dib was acquitted of the murder in 2016.
It was a quick progression from the first meeting when Michael shared his thoughts on how the door could be used.
“Why aren’t youse doing f...... rack (cocaine) and shit like that?” Michael asked.
It was the moment he’d been waiting for.
As a matter of fact, the undercover replied, I am.
“Yeah, why do you think what I’ve got going on is stressing me out?,” the undercover said.
On November 18, 2016, Mostafa Dib showed his face at Guilfoyle Park in Double Bay.
Dib had stockpiles in several countries and discussed the logistics of smuggling drugs from Lebanon with Michael and the undercover.
“Depends what is the best one to get it in,” Dib said. “The only problem is we need to make it look legit.”
The Lebanon import fell through. But another plan eventuated that saw the undercover travel to the Netherlands in May 2017 to ship 800kg of MDMA from Dib’s European drug suppliers to Australia.
He also made contact with Dib’s alleged supplier, a kingpin known as “Baby Face” and “Mr Billionaire”, whose real name is Hakan Arif, via a BlackBerry.
In the message, Arif allegedly said: “If u need 3Tonne ill drop to u no problem”.
He would eventually meet Arif at a five-star restaurant in Dubai to discuss ongoing drug transactions.
It was a watershed moment. But in the lead-up, the undercover had to overcome some trust issues.
PROVE YOURSELF
It was a question that could have blown the investigation with the wrong response.
“The boys want to know who you are, right,” Watsford asked the undercover.
Watsford asked the question in January 2017 on a walk around Point Piper to discuss the plans to smuggle drugs via Mostafa Dib’s overseas contacts.
It was just one of the countless moments the undercover faced during the investigation where he had seconds to come up with the perfect answer.
Right now, Dib didn’t trust the undercover and Watsford was sent to probe him.
“(Dib) goes ‘Bro, we’re going to be doing big numbers and we’re going to be doing big business’. He goes ‘I don’t know him’,” Watsford said.
To know more about the undercover’s personal life was Dib’s solution.
“But they want to know, where does (the undercover) live?” Watsford said.
The undercover laughed and said: “They want to come to my house?”
“Michael will go on their behalf,” Watsford pressed.
The undercover changed the subject before trying to appear more cautious than Watsford.
“I’m happy that they’re cautious … don’t think I’m getting offended,” he said. “Trust me, I admire that this has come up.”
He then got on the front foot.
“I’m happy to tell you what you need to know about me but I got to know from their point (who they are),” the undercover said.
And then sprinkled it with flattery.
“I know Mick from the homework I’ve done. I know the family name,” the undercover said. “I know how established the family name is … I admire how they’ve done it.”
But Watsford was persistent.
“All the boys want to know is … your full name, your last name and your address and that’s it,” Watsford said.
The undercover relented and told Watsford his address before throwing another smoke bomb.
“I am going to move in with my missus,” he said.
“While we look for a place, we’re moving in with her sister. Once we find a place, I’ll put on a dinner,” he added.
“We’ll have a f...... poker night. We’ll get some cigars.”
Watsford accepted and said “it’s just comfortability” because “we’re in bed together”.
The undercover reminded Watsford: “It’s a two-way street.”
MICHAEL’S NEW BEST FRIEND
When a police officer goes deep undercover they have to be able to roll with any situation.
Even if it means having a stripper shoot a dildo at them in Amsterdam.
That’s what happened to the undercover as he took a tour Amsterdam’s red light district with Michael.
The undercover retold the story to Watsford during a long lunch with Michael at Point Piper’s Royal Motor Yacht Club in May 2017.
“I was probably standing where that table is and she goes f...... get ready … And I’m going ‘For what?’,” the undercover said.
“And he goes ‘What do you think you idiot. She’s gonna shoot a f...... dildo at you’. Then she shot it out,” he said.
With the riches he had delivered, Michael was more than happy to bring the undercover into the fold of the underworld and “vouch” for his criminal peers to do business with his new best friend.
Michael also took it upon himself to show to show the undercover a good time, Ibrahim style.
This included inviting the undercover to an exclusive weekly poker night at nightclub boss John Ibrahim’s Dover Heights mansion.
Michael explained that it was serious competition with an $8000 buy in.
“First check with your brother if it’s all right,” the undercover said at a lunch at Woolloomooloo in January 2017.
It is not known if the undercover went to the poker night, but he had already crossed paths with John in late 2016 when Michael invited him to a “boys-only” getaway in Thailand.
The undercover only went to the luxury villa for a brief period but was later sent a video by Michael on WhatsApp showing John firing an automatic pellet gun at a friend in a mock hostage situation while the others laughed.
Discussing a drug deal with a senior bikie, who can’t legally be named, Michael said how close he was with the undercover.
“This guy … he’s like a brother to me. We’re going to do a lot of business together. I wouldn’t let nothing happen (to him),” he said.
The pair became closer after Ryan was cut out as punishment for stealing $65,000 from money that was to be used to pay for a drug shipment.
Ryan and another man had their heads shaved and eyebrows waxed as punishment.
Michael messaged the undercover: “Bashed Ryan … c … could have put us in a real bad situation 2 day. I’m burning bro.”
By July 2017, with more cigarettes rolling in and a successful drug shipment pick-up in Europe, Michael told the undercover he was “wrapped”.
“After this first one man, they’re gonna flood you,” Michael said.
“You’re the hottest model there is,” he later added.
He had no idea the drugs were in the hands of police and a replacement shipment of harmless powder was on its way to Sydney.
It is not known exactly when Michael found out that his friend was an undercover.
When police arrested Michael in Dubai in August 2017 he wouldn’t have known about his friend’s true identity because the officers also arrested the undercover in the same manner.
Michael and the undercover exited a yacht and were walking along the Marina Promenade. The undercover was also arrested by Dubai police.
Michael — who had previously served six years for manslaughter — was put in a jail cell while the undercover was taken to a debriefing session.
Meanwhile, back in Vaucluse, Michael’s partner Caitlin Hall was answering the door to police raiding their newly rented home.
Ms Hall has not been charged and there is no suggestion she was aware of Michael’s activities.
DIRTY PEOPLE, DIRTY LAUNDRY
Fadi’s gunshot recovery; the Comanchero are a spent force; and the true story about an underworld killing — the Ibrahims and the wider underworld has its own version of the bush telegraph and the undercover was exposed to all of it.
After he got as close as he did to Michael and Watsford he tapped into the occasionally volatile Ibrahim family politics.
At a meeting in Point Piper, Watsford told the undercover the 2016 Thailand trip had also been a peace meeting for the Ibrahim brothers.
“We paid for that whole trip. You know why? Some inside information,” Watsford said.
“The brothers got back together. There’s been a bit of drama. You know what I mean.”
In July 2017, Michael told the undercover that another Thailand trip was planned as part of Fadi’s continuing recovery after being shot in 2009.
“So we’re gonna go to Thailand with my brother John … and Fadi,” Michael said. “We’re gonna train there for 10 days.”
Michael also shared his opinion on other members of the underworld, including the strength of the Comanchero bikie gang.
“The Commo’s are living off their reputation from 2006 and all that. I don’t think they’re as good anymore as they used to be,” Michael said in May 2017.
He also shared his theory on an unsolved underworld murder that can’t legally be identified.
“Listen to this. This is a James Bond kind of a story. Treachery and this and that,” he said.
Michael then explained that an underworld figure was murdered by one group in a revenge plot after they saw an opportunity where someone else would be blamed for the killing.
WHAT NOW FOR THE UNDERCOVER OPERATIVE?
What do you do with an undercover operative that has taken down an organised crime group with tentacles all over the world?
A description of him would likely have spread throughout the Australian underworld and their overseas connections. He sat face-to-face with drug kingpins who know what he looks like.
More undercover work would seem too risky, but so would another life and another career if the wrong person spots him.
One officer familiar with the case said: “We don’t know, they don’t even tell us.”
“There’s a plan. He will be well looked after.”
* The Sunday Telegraph has changed the pseudonym and ID number of the undercover to comply with court orders.
Ultra-light winds foil Aussies at America’s Cup youth regatta
Australia finally raced in anger at the America’s Cup Youth regatta after days of weather delays and in terrible conditions off Barcelona. Latest news.
65k flock to SCG, Allianz Stadium for do-or-die clashes
A massive 65,000 fans gathered on tenterhooks for dual-code elimination finals on Friday night – with the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground heaving as the Swans took on Port Adelaide Power.