How wanted Alameddine kingpin Masood Zakaria fled Australia by sea

A high-ranking member of the Alameddine clan is thought to have fled Australia in a daring sea escape. Find out how police believe he did it.

The state’s most wanted man Masood Zakaria, who is believed to have organised the murders of a number of members of the Hamzy family, is thought to have fled the country on a boat off the Western Australia coast.

Zakaria, the second highest ranking member of the Alameddine clan, vanished four months ago just before NSW Police could arrest him over the alleged attempted murder of rival Ibrahem Hamze at North Sydney last August.

Despite an arrest warrant being issued for the 26-year-old police have been unable to track him down.

The Daily Telegraph can now reveal Zakaria is believed to have been laying low in Melbourne until recently making his way to Perth, from where sources said he paid to be stowed away on a fishing trawler bound for Malaysia.

Both police and underworld sources have confirmed they believe Zakaria is no longer in Australia.

Masood Zakaria, the state’s most wanted man, is thought to have fled the country on a shipping trawler off the Western Australia coast. Picture: John Grainger.

NSW Police attempt to arrest Masood Zakaria at his Greystanes home in December last year. Supplied by PMU

Off the back of their efforts to track down alleged drug kingpin Mostafa Baluch last year as he tried to get out of the country, NSW Police had been hopeful of doing the same with Zakaria – but it proved far more difficult.

“There’s been nothing on him, absolutely no talk at all,” one officer said recently.

“With Baluch they had a lot of chatter coming in but with Zakaria its been so quiet, it’s incredible actually.”

Intelligence led police to search inner-city penthouses and hideouts on the Central Coast where they found a number of low-ranking associates of the Alameddines and other criminal organisations, but not Zakaria.

Zakaria (second from left, with Alameddine clan members Ali Younes, Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine) has been on the run for four months. Picture: Instagram

From Malaysia it is believed the tall and overweight suspected crime enforcer went to Turkey where he will try to join up with another former Comanchero currently in exile – international drug lord Mark Buddle.

“He might not be welcome in Lebanon because there are some rivals there, but he would likely try and team up with Buddle,” one source said.

“He (Zakaria) is a former Commo, and the Buddle and the Alameddines are very tight.”

Police allege a failed attempt on the life of Ibrahem Hamze at North Sydney last August was masterminded by Zakaria. Picture: NCA NewsWire

NSW Police attempted to arrest Zakaria last December on charges of conspiracy to murder Ibrahem Hamze, but he was nowhere to be found. Picture: NSW Police

Zakaria was once a lieutenant under current Comanchero sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed who himself recently left Sydney, allowing him to escape the intense restrictions of the serious crime prevention order taken out by NSW Police.

Sources close to the crime families involved said the former Comanchero bikie and Brothers 4 Life associate’s escape was facilitated by Fawaz Elmir, who is currently in Lebanon, for a fee believed to be between $500,000 and $750,000

Sources said Zakaria is believed to have fled Australia from Perth, where he paid between $500,000 and $750,000 to be stowed away on a fishing trawler, similar to the one pictured, bound for Malaysia.

Elmir used the same route and connections when he fled Australia at a time when wanted over a shooting at a Condell Park car yard in 2016.

Police claim Elmir shot at a member of rival crime family, the Ahmads in the incident which saw his cousin Safwan Charbaji killed.

It sparked the retaliation murder of Wally Ahmed at the Bankstown Centro shopping centre just three weeks later and a number of other shootings and murder, according to police, including the deaths of Kemel “Blackie‘’ Barakat and the slaying of Hamad ”The Executioner’’ Assad.