New Comanchero Supreme Commander arrested in Turkey

The global leader of the Comanchero bikie club and former Sydney gang boss Duax Ngakuru is rumoured to have been arrested in Turkey, throwing the once-powerful club into disarray.

Duax Ngakuru relaxes on the back of a yacht beside the Turkish flag in one of the first photos of him to surface in almost a decade.

The global leader of the Comanchero bikie club and former Sydney gang boss Duax Ngakuru is believed to have been arrested in Turkey, throwing the once-powerful club into disarray.

Ngakuru, who left Australia in 2010, had just taken the reins of the club after former high-profile leader Mark Buddle was himself arrested in Turkey and extradited to Australia in August.

Sources said to The Daily Telegraph they were told Ngakuru had been taken into custody in Turkey in recent days. Authorities in Australia were still trying to get the latest on Sunday.

“We have heard he has been arrested and we’re trying to confirm it,’’ a NSW Police source said.

Duax Ngakuru and partner Mereana Ngakuru on a Sydney harbour cruise in 2009, accompanied by other Comanchero members.

Ngakuru and his long-time associate Mark Buddle.

The Telegraph revealed two weeks ago that Ngakuru, 42, who was a long-time close associate of Buddle and had an estimated wealth in excess of $100 million, was now considered the Supreme Commander of the Comanchero gang, operating out of Turkey.

It is not known exactly why Turkish authorities arrested Ngakuru.

Ngakuru is suspected of running major drug importations into Australia for distribution across the country and faces possible deportation to his birth country of New Zealand where there are warrants for his arrest.

Daux Ngakuru after attending a matter at Central Local Court in Sydney in 2010.

The arrest of Buddle and now Ngakuru is an ominous sign for many Sydney gangsters living in Turkey where they thought they were safe from law enforcement.

Masood Zakaria, now considered Australia’s most wanted man is currently believed to be in Istanbul after NSW Police issued a warrant for his arrest for the attempted murder of Ibrahem Hamze, one of the major figures in Sydney’s recent gangland war.

“He will be very worried, he is Afghani and not a Turkish citizen and they seem to be grabbing anyone not from Turkey who are wanted from other countries,’’ an underworld source previously told The Telegraph.

“I reckon he will be on the move now, if not already.”

The current law enforcement landscape, where Sydney’s alleged underworld figures are being pursued to all corners of the globe, is a far cry from the way things once were for Comancheros like Duax Ngakuru.

In 2009, the bikie club was comfortable enough with its public image to invite media outlets onto a cruise to celebrate its Christmas party on Sydney Harbour. The bikies and their partners, including Ngakuru and now-murdered club boss Mick Hawi, smiled for the cameras and sipped drinks in the sun.

Ngakuru told the gathering how encouraged he was that after a year of feuding between clubs, peace had been negotiated: “I’ve got to take my hat off to the other clubs. It’s been a collective effort from everyone.”