Ibrahim arrests: Youngest brother Michael dreamed of travelling world with his new best friend
EXPLOSIVE new documents reveal how an alleged plan to smuggle a fortune of drugs was meant to be a $50m retirement plan for Michael Ibrahim. Instead the gangster led members of notorious families into the arms of an undercover police informant.
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MICHAEL Ibrahim thought he was on to a $50 million retirement plan.
Together with his new best friend, a man he’d met at the Sheraton Hotel last November over drinks, police will allege Michael thought he was going to get very rich, very quickly — while spreading the wealth among Sydney’s criminal elite.
Then the two men were going to spend the rest of their lives travelling the world together.
One problem. The new best friend was a double agent, a police operative.
Police documents allege this man, dubbed Male Witness 1, lured Michael Ibrahim in with the promise of a get-rich-quick tobacco smuggling scam, and then guided him to create an enormous criminal conspiracy to import tonnes of Class A drugs.
It was 1.18pm on June 7 and Michael was sitting down for a one-on-one lunch at the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf hot spot China Doll with MW1.
The conversation turned to a shipment of drugs worth almost $1 billion, which the men had allegedly organised to be smuggled from Europe and was due to arrive in Australia soon, according to documents tendered to court this week.
Seeing the chance to parlay the arrangement into further riches, Michael allegedly told MW1 that once the shipment had been safely handed over in Australia he was keen to organise future meetings on the Spanish party island of Ibiza so he could introduce his new friend to more of his associates and ensure neither man ever had to work again.
Michael allegedly told the man they should continue in their partnership until they had each made $50 million profit.
“Then we can retire and travel the world together,” Ibrahim allegedly said. It was the classic movie cliche: Get the last big score and walk away from the game.
Despite their short acquaintance, Michael, youngest of the Ibrahim siblings, was allegedly prepared to place his future, and that of his brother Fadi and beloved nephew Daniel, into the man’s hands.
At the Sheraton meeting, Michael’s new friend described how he could smuggle drugs and tobacco into the lucrative Australian market via a process or a person he called “a door”, which is believed to refer to a number of corrupt officials. This meant the hauls would not be scrutinised by law enforcement.
While allegedly using the “door” arrangement to make $6.75 million through smuggled cigarettes, Michael realised the potential for massive drug profits, police claim.
He allegedly recruited the Mr Bigs of the Sydney and international drug trades to join the conspiracy by forming two syndicates to fund the buy-up of tonnes of Class A drugs.
The two syndicates involved nine other people and allegedly planned to import about two tonnes of MDMA, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The alleged syndicate members were taken down as part of the 19 arrests across three continents.
But the problem was the new best friend. Double agent MW1 was feeding it all back to police.
Then, once major players from 10 of Sydney’s most notorious families were on the hook, police pounced with a series of co-ordinated arrests over three continents on Tuesday.
Michael didn’t see it coming and was arrested alongside Fadi in Dubai. Police had been watching Michael since March 2016. And his retirement plans have now been shelved, or at least replaced, by one that could play out in a prison setting if he is convicted.
As Michael and Fadi sit in a Dubai jail, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the full extent of Michael’s alleged ambitions for the syndicate — as well as some mistakes he made.
The court documents show Michael, 39, was remarkably candid with MW1 at numerous meetings in the nine months before his arrest.
At the lunch date, Michael allegedly detailed to MW1 how members of one of the drug syndicates had attended his “nephew’s house” for a handover of $1.12 million on May 26, where one of the men brought his own money-counting machine.
John wrote that if a deal looks too good to be true, then it generally is.
He also allegedly explained how accused syndicate members, notorious Punchbowl identity Mustapha Dib and Dubai-based Sydney gangster Steven Elmir, had made peace “and are willing to work together”.
However Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad, brother of slain Western Sydney drug lord Walid “Wally” Ahmad, refused to work with Elmir, which may explain why he was allegedly a member of the second syndicate.
The alleged syndicate members were taken down as part of the 19 arrests across three continents.
Also allegedly involved was Nejmi “Boss” Saki, an alleged top-of-the-tree European drug lord who is accused of supplying a large portion of drugs to be smuggled to Australia.
Unwittingly, Michael Ibrahim was the cause of it all. He even dragged his “cleanskin” older brother John into the drama, with the nightclub owner’s house being raided by police.
Although he was not charged, court documents say that John, the family patriarch, was on the fringes and captured on police phone taps making calls to bit players of the alleged syndicate in an attempt to recover missing money.
“I haven’t had any income for two years. F ... ing I’m living off my home loan.”
MW1 even dropped in on John and his brothers during a Thailand holiday as the drug smuggling plans allegedly took shape.
In his recently released book, John wrote that if a deal looks too good to be true, then it generally is. Michael has allegedly shown that his older brother’s theory rings true.
Ibrahim cousin and Nomads bikie boss Sleiman Tajjour was charged with supplying about 6kg of MDMA to MW1, which police claim was set up by Michael.
Tajjour’s lawyer Omar Juweinat said his client intended to plead not guilty and called the allegation “preposterous”.
He said: “To suggest that a man of my client’s rank was involved in a six-kilo drug supply is not only preposterous and against his beliefs, but, put simply, it is beneath him.”
Police documents also reveal the financial ups and down of Fadi and Michael. Michael, who has never earned a legitimate dollar in his life, is angling for the get-rich-quick scheme, while Fadi, who was left with lifelong injuries after being shot in 2009, bemoans his financial struggles.
Fadi will be charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime. His lawyer Abbas Soukie said he intends to fight the charge.
Michael had not heeded John’s advice on discreet phone habits.
According to police phone taps revealed in this week’s documents, Fadi remortgaged his Dover Heights mansion for $1 million to finance shipments of cigarettes and drugs. In July, Fadi confided to John’s long-time financial whiz Margaret Staltaro: “I haven’t had any income for two years. F ... ing I’m living off my home loan.”
The issue had come up on a previous phone tap when Fadi was allegedly heard telling an associate: “I’d do anything for my brothers.”
“I f ... ing went and borrowed on my house for you because you just got out of jail and you had no money. I borrowed on my house for ya,” Fadi allegedly said.
According to the police documents, Michael sold himself as the middleman who could subcontract MW1’s “door” service.
In return, the documents said Michael would allegedly receive a 20 per cent cut of the drug shipments as a fee, which he would split with MW1.
The three shipments included one with 800kg of MDMA, a second with 500kg of MDMA and 20kg of cocaine, and a third with 498kg of MDMA, 116kg of cocaine and 15kg of methamphetamine that were to arrive between June and August this year.
“These c***s could put us in a real bad situation 2 day.”
Michael, the youngest of the Ibrahim brothers, was shot at in Martin Place in January, 2015.
Police have enjoyed much success intercepting Michael Ibrahim’s phone communications over many years, to the immense frustration of his older brother John.
In his book, John wrote that police monitored phone traffic in Michael’s crew “until they heard enough to get a perverting the course of justice charge”.
In the lead-up to his arrest in Dubai, the police documents show Michael had not heeded John’s advice on discreet phone habits.
Michael quickly relaxed and put total faith in the encrypted BlackBerry messaging services that he, MW1 and the other alleged syndicate members were using. It will now be up to prosecutors to prove who was using the phones.
On July 20, Michael allegedly forwarded a message to MW1 about cigarettes he referred to by brand names such as Manchester Slims.
Michael wrote to his cousin Fares Derbas: “Bro we are back on, I’m paying him on Sunday for 2250 boxes ... me and him go halfs after we pay back what it costs.”
He ended the exchange by saying they were allegedly getting “the (w)hole 2250” and that Derbas was “going 2 do the lot”.
With arrests made, police are now in possession of thousands of BlackBerry messages.
At times, the intercepted messages showed Michael panicking and lashing out at alleged syndicate members.
On May 22, he allegedly accused low-level bagman Jaron Chester and Double Bay real estate agent Ryan Watsford of stealing $65,000.
Michael messaged MW1 and allegedly said he “bashed Ryan and that fat dog ompa”, referring to Chester.
He continued: “These c***s could put us in a real bad situation 2 day. I’m burning bro.”
OPERATION VEYDA
The investigation began in March 2016 when the Australian Federal Police launched Operation Veyda, which targeted Michael Ibrahim and Watsford.
According to police documents, Watsford introduced Michael to MW1 on November 10 and their relationship allegedly flourished.
Watsford had months earlier met up with MW1 to allegedly ask about his money laundering services.
He then allegedly cut a deal with MW 1 to exchange three million illegally obtained Russian roubles with MW1 for $58,000.
Their dealings soon turned to counterfeit cigarettes, which police allege Watsford thought Michael might be interested in.
At a meeting with Michael, MW1 explained to about “the door” and the conversation allegedly found its way to the topic of smuggling millions worth of drugs and cigarettes.
As the police investigation progressed, they became aware the alleged plan to import drugs and a long list of people associated with it.
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