The Australian fugitives who were sent packing from their Turkish hideouts
Masood Zakaria joins a list of notable suspected Australian crime bosses who sought refuge in Turkey, long considered a safe haven for underworld figures to hide out in— until now.
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Turkey has long been considered a safe haven for Australian crime bosses to hide-out - until now.
Masood Zakaria’s arrest on the weekend sent another message from the Turkish government that they are cracking down on alleged criminals using the country to hide.
Melbourne-born Neil Prakash was arrested in Turkey in 2016 accused of terrorism offences and spent five years in a local jail before he was extradited to Sydney last year.
Tony Haddad, 46, went into hiding while on trial for his role in allegedly importing safrole oil, a banned substance that could produce more than two million MDMA tablets.
Turkish authorities caught Haddad trying to leave the country on a fake passport in August last year.
He was then extradited to Sydney.
At the time of Haddad’s arrest, AFP Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan said criminals had a false belief that they were safe in Turkey.
“Fugitives who think they can hide from Australian police in another country need to realise they have a problem,” he said.
“Countries around the world are not going to tolerate being used as criminal safe havens.”
Comanchero boss Mark Buddle was captured in during a dawn raid on his hideout in Turkey, in July last year, and extradited to Australia a month later where he was charged over a mass drug importation.
Two weeks ago, global leader of the Comanchero Duax Ngakuru was arrested in Turkey. Ngakuru is suspected of running major drug importations into Australia for distribution across the country.
He is still being held in a Turkish prison and faces deportation to his birth country of New Zealand where there are warrants for his arrest.
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