Salim Mehajer: Former Auburn deputy mayor’s minder allegedly provides muscle for drug dealers
SALIM Mehajer’s former bodyguard has moved up in the world to work as a debt collector for an alleged Gold Coast drug and arms dealer, a court has heard.
NSW
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SALIM Mehajer’s former bodyguard has moved up in the world to work as a debt collector for an alleged Gold Coast drug and arms dealer, a court heard.
Police recorded alleged arms dealer Matthew Delander boasting how good Waled Elriche was, saying he “was very, very, very, very effective” at collecting debts from people.
He referred to Elriche as “the Big Leb” and said he was “the main debt collector in Australia” in a conversation recorded by police.
“He bashed the c…,” Delander said of Elriche, referring to him taking on a group of “six Samoans” while Delander watched.
Queensland police allege Delander hired Elriche between November 27 and December 7 last year “to collect outstanding moneys owed from the trafficking of dangerous drugs”.
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Six months later, on April 12, Delander was recorded boasting that Elriche had taken part in an infamous brawl at the Stereosonic music festival in Sydney in December 2014.
Elriche has often been photographed accompanying the former deputy mayor of Auburn and property developer Salim Mehajer and was a guest at Mehajer’s lavish $1 million wedding last year.
There is no suggestion that Elriche was involved in trafficking drugs or arms dealing or that Mehajer was involved in any of the activities described.
Details of the recorded conversations were contained in court documents filed by police in the Queensland Supreme Court during Delander’s unsuccessful bid to be released on bail in June.
Delander, 33, is on remand on 21 weapons and drugs charges, including trafficking in ice and ecstasy.
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