Hells Angels bikie Ertem Toklar faces ‘minor charges’ after gloves, balaclava, cloned number plates found: court

Police have told a court that what they found inside Ertem Toklar’s car had all the hallmarks of organised crime — but Justice Helen Wilson said she was unable to draw that conclusion beyond a “strong suspicion”.

Ertem Adam Toklar allegedly had a black balaclava in a car he was found in. Picture: istock

Authorities believe they may have thwarted a potential late-night gangland attack in western Sydney after a chance discovery of gloves, a balaclava and a Hells Angels bikie inside a stolen car affixed with cloned number plates, a court has heard.

Police will allege they were patrolling the Five Dock area just before midnight on October 19 last year when they found Ertem Adam Toklar sitting in a Toyota Camry parked in an unlit area of the Barnwell Park Golf Club.

Court documents said officers saw an unidentified male quickly leave the Camry as they approached it, but discovered Toklar still inside the vehicle, which was parked next to an unlocked Mercedes SUV.

A search of the Camry allegedly uncovered what police described as a “sinister” combination of gloves, a black balaclava, a Ring video recording device, a bag of clothes, $3450 in cash and an aerosol can of WD40 wrapped in plastic and stashed in the driver’s side door.

The court heard the car was an unreturned rental from Victoria which had cloned registration plates.

Ertem Adam Toklar was arrested in a car which allegedly contained gloves, a black balaclava, clothes, cash and other “sinister” items, police told a court. Picture: NSW Police

Police documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court and released publicly for the first time said the items found inside the Camry, together with the use of cloned plates, carried all the hallmarks of serious criminal activity including kidnappings, shootings and murders.

“These items have been found to be used in serious violent criminal offences within the south west of Sydney in recent times, such as the murder of organised criminal identities and OMCG members,” a police fact sheet said.

“It is believed based on the evidence available that this proactive policing intervention stopped the accused and his associates from participating in these offences which place the community at extreme risk.”

However, police did not identify any particular potential offence which they believed they had stopped, and Toklar has only been charged with the relatively minor offences of dishonesty possessing interfered with unique identifier, goods in custody and steroid possession.

He is yet to enter any pleas to the charges.

Justice Helen Wilson said she was unable to draw the conclusion that the alleged offending was committed in the context of “current disputes between rival criminal gangs”, saying the evidence was “too slender”.

“It certainly raises the strong suspicion that is the case but I don’t think it goes beyond that,” she said.

Meanwhile, the court heard further cash and more cloned number plates were also found inside the Mercedes, which Toklar allegedly told police he’d driven to the scene.

He allegedly said “some chick” had dropped off the Camry, then left in an Uber.

In a recent application for bail, Toklar’s barrister Derek Drewett argued the case against his client regarding the cloned number plates was fatally flawed due to a legal technicality and the cash found at the scene was part of a six-figure legal compensation payout Toklar had received earlier that month.

Prosecutors opposed Toklar’s release application, claiming what could initially be considered “low-level offending” took on a “far more sinister tone” once Toklar’s bikie associations and criminal history was taken into account.

Justice Wilson ultimately refused to release Toklar on bail, describing the allegations as “very troubling” given the 31-year-old’s gang associations and his prior criminal record.

The case will return to court in February.