Kidnap accused Mohamad Arnaout begs court to ease nighttime curfew over safety fears

A man on bail over his alleged role in a kidnapping has claimed a recently published picture of him sitting next to alleged drug kingpin Bilal Haouchar reignited fears for his own safety. It comes two years after police issued him a dire warning.

Mohamad Arnaout, pictured, has told a court he fears for his safety while on bail.

A Sydney man on bail over his alleged involvement in a brazen kidnapping has pleaded with a court to remove his nightly residence and curfew conditions, claiming his life is in danger if he stays in the same place too long.

Mohamad Arnaout told the NSW Supreme Court he needs to be free to move from house to house at night to avoid being a “target” and cannot comply with stringent bail conditions requiring him to live at the same address each night under a 9pm-5am curfew.

The court heard Arnaout’s fears for his safety stemmed from a conversation with police in 2022 in which he was advised there was a bounty on his head.

During the same conversation, the officers allegedly tried to recruit Arnaout as an informant in their ongoing war against Sydney’s most prominent organised crime families.

While Arnaout declined to help police “because he felt he had nothing to offer”, he told the court last week that subsequent articles in The Daily Telegraph — in which he was pictured sitting next to alleged international crime boss Bilal Haouchar at a wedding in Lebanon — had reignited his concerns for his own safety.

Mohamad Arnaout says the publication of this picture – featuring him with Bilal Haouchar (right) at a wedding in Lebanon last year – has reignited concerns for his safety. He says he is not associated with Haouchar in any way.

Arnaout denied being part of the Haouchar crime clan or any rival groups, saying he had taken “measured steps” to ensure he was not associated with any “underworld figures”.

He told the court he had recently moved house for safety reasons but claimed he needed to be able to leave the home at night if he became aware of any threats.

“Additionally, I may need to sleep at a family member or family friend’s house during the week, which would result in a breach due to my current curfew condition,” he wrote in an affidavit tendered to the court.

Arnaout’s legal team proposed that he be allowed to reside anywhere at night, provided he gave the address to police before he arrived at the premises.

They said other bail conditions, including an ankle monitor and daily reporting, would remain in place.

The bid to alter his bail conditions was heard in the NSW Supreme Court. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Prosecutors opposed the application after Arnaout conceded he had never received any direct threats in the two years since the police had spoken to him.

Justice Stephen Campbell rejected Arnaout’s application, finding the curfew was a significant condition in managing his risk on bail.

“It’s notorious that Sydney is beset by turf wars between dangerous organised criminal networks, and he’s concerned with being caught up in that,” he said.

“[But] frankly, there is no material before me which would lay any reasonable foundation that there is a direct threat to his personal safety.”

Arnaout has pleaded not guilty to charges of detaining a person and participating in a criminal group stemming from allegations he was involved in kidnapping Punchbowl man Youssef Nagi in March 2021.

Court documents Mr Nagi was abducted at gunpoint, taken to a property in Greenacre and tortured.

Police allege his kidnappers demanded $10 million in ransom.

Mr Nagi was returned to his family two days later.