Sydney-born drug lord Mark Buddle appears in Cyprus newspaper after moving from Dubai

A Sydney-born crime boss has featured on the front page of a newspaper in Cyprus, where he was given a residence permit for a somewhat ironic reason.

Sydney-born crime boss Mark Buddle has reportedly been living in Cyprus since mid-2021 as he continues to make international headlines, the latest a front-page story in the European nation where he is exiled.

The Kibris Gercek newspaper claims Buddle organised to live in Northern Cyprus after meetings with high-ranking politicians who granted him a residence permit until August 6, 2022 – for the ironic reason that he would bring “high income to the country”.

Buddle is estimated to have a worth of more than $100 million, made largely from drug trafficking.

Mark Buddle features in a Cyprus newspaper.

Northern Cyprus is a disputed part of the island nation that is viewed as simply being Cyprus by all nations except Turkey, who views it as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In response to the story, Northern Cyprus’ Prime Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu said he had no information about Buddle – the ex-boss of the Comanchero bikie gang – but vowed to investigate.

Buddle’s headline making in Cyprus came just days before it was revealed NSW Police will allege he sanctioned the 2020 murder of Mejid Hamzy in response to the theft of a 400kg cocaine shipment belonging to him.

The former Comanchero bikie boss, Buddle left Australia in 2016 along with partner Mel Terwisscha and their daughter.

After initially setting up life in Dubai, continued attention from authorities forced him to flee to Europe and the Middle East last year. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Police sources said there is no proof that Hamzy was in any way involved in the theft.

Buddle left Australia in 2016 at a time when he was wanted for questioning over the murder of Armaguard security worker Gary Allibon.

He initially moved to Dubai where he set up a new life with his partner and daughter.

But last year he was forced to leave Dubai, after the arrests of a number of Australians in what had previously been thought of as a safehaven and a poolside fight with tourists at a resort that was captured on video.

Since then he has been country hopping, spending time in Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey – where several close allies live and one, fellow drug lord Hakan Ayik, has set up the Kings Cross Hotel as something of a hotspot for criminal expats.

Many of these criminals use encrypted phones, such as the Cipher brand, in an effort to communicate and plan their activities out of the view of police.

“He is moving around the world running everything by Cipher,” underworld sources said of Buddle.

“When the cops infiltrated AN0M it slowed him and the Comanchero down a bit, but they are now back doing business on their encrypted devices.”

Ayik had his power and influence severely impacted as part of the AN0M sting last year, having been one of the key international players in spreading the devices throughout the underworld – unaware they had been created by the FBI so they could be traced.