Inside the police sting to arrest NSW’s most wanted fugitive Masood Zakaria

Masood Zakaria was on the run with a security detail of up to 10 bodyguards — but it wasn’t enough to save him when Turkish police came knocking at midnight. Here’s how raid unfolded.

Masood Zakaria was allegedly planning to flee Bodrum via boat when police swooped to arrest him. Picture: Perry Duffin

Fugitive Masood Zakaria was holed up in a Turkish villa with family and 10 bodyguards when police swooped at midnight after a tip the fugitive was about to flee by boat.

Details of the highly-secretive police sting can now be revealed after NSW’s most wanted man was arrested under the cover of darkness on January 28, inside a luxurious villa overlooking a marina in the tourist district of Bodrum.

Zakaria, the second highest ranked member of the Alameddine crime network, had been on the run from NSW Police for 14 months.

He fled Sydney in December 2021 when he got wind police were about to arrest him over an alleged failed plot to kill gang rival Ibrahem Hamze, earlier that year.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that when Turkish authorities broke down a door to the rental villa nine days ago, Zakaria was located inside with four members of his family, believed to include his wife Azza and their children, as well as 10 associates who act as his bodyguards.

Wanted NSW man Masood Zakaria was staying in a luxury villa overlooking the Yalikavak marina in Bodrum (pictured) when he was arrested in a night raid on January 28. Picture: Instagram

Zakaria had only arrived in Bodrum 10 days earlier, and had travelled there by road. It isn’t clear when the rest of his party arrived or if they travelled there together.

Local media claimed Turkish Special Forces received information Zakaria was on the move and planning to leave Turkey any moment by boat.

Zakaria fled Australia in 2021. Picture: John Grainger

He was allegedly planning on fleeing to Africa from Turkey.

Police said there was intelligence he was heading to an African country.

A special operations team of about 50 officers from Istanbul, Ankara and Mugla were involved in the raid on Zakaria’s villa, just after midnight.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and multiple weapons were found inside the villas, police sources said.

Zakaria was arrested and taken to a local prison facility for several days, before he was transferred to a maximum security facility in Ankara where he now awaits extradition or deportation.

It’s not the first time Zakaria has fled a country on water.

NSW Police believe their wanted man fled Sydney in hidden inside a fishing trawler bound for Malaysia.

NSW Police attempt to arrest Masood Zakaria at his Greystanes home in 2021 but he is nowhere to be found. Picture: NSW Police

From there, it’s believed he made his way to Turkey where he has been hiding since.

Zakaria left Sydney solo, without his family.

His wife was prohibited from travelling overseas until late last year, as part of her strict bail conditions.

Mrs Zakaria was charged in March 2022 with fraud offences relating to the purchase of the couple’s Greystanes home.

She pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining benefit by deception and was sentenced in Parramatta Local Court to a 12-month community correction order.

Zakaria is the third high-profile Australian to be arrested in Turkey as local authorities crackdown on people hiding out in their country.

Comanchero boss Mark Buddle was nabbed in July, and last month fellow bikie boss Daux Ngakuru was arrested.