Sydney’s underworld figures fleeing overseas amid NSW Police scrutiny
Sydney’s gangland figures are moving overseas at an increasing rate after years of intense scrutiny from police. Find out who has left Australia behind.
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One of the most recognisable faces of Sydney’s underworld has spoken about his decision to move overseas in the wake of years of intense scrutiny from NSW Police.
Ali Younes, better known as rapper “Ay Huncho”, has repeatedly been alleged by police to be a key player in the ranks of the infamous Alameddine organised crime network.
But like many of his fellow alleged members Younes is now living overseas and told controversial TikToker Jon-Bernard Kairouz it was nice to have a “taste of freedom”.
“Yeah it’s been good man, finally get some taste of freedom,” Younes told Kairouz in a TikTok.
“Came first class. I came here legally.”
But while it has been suggested some of his associates will never return to Sydney, the Putrid Sh** rapper said he has plans to travel back home in the near future.
“Yeah I’m back soon,” he said.
“We are just here for work purposes.”
Younes is one of more than 80 underworld figures to have gone overseas in recent years and leave Australia behind, in the process taking themselves off the streets that have proven increasingly dangerous.
ALI ‘AY HUNCHO’ YOUNES
The high-profile Sydney rapper headed off to Lebanon in April just days after avoiding jail over an affray at a boxing match.
Younes, 26, was dealt with in April alongside associates Moshtaba Hafizi, 26, and Charbel Nohra, 25, in relation to the shocking fight that involved the use of a pole to bash another man on November 27, 2021.
After negotiations with NSW Police prosecutors, all three men pleaded guilty to affray. The victim was left with a broken nose, a fractured neck and cuts all across his face.
Shortly after, Younes took off on a holiday overseas, posting a photo of himself sitting in a business class seat to Instagram saying he was going overseas “after 5 long years being held down by the authorities”.
MASOOD ZAKARIA
NSW’s “most wanted man” is currently in a detention cell in Turkey after fleeing Australia on a fishing boat in December 2021.
Zakaria’s journey abroad came as NSW Police planned to arrest and charge him with conspiracy to murder, for his alleged role as a kingpin of the Alameddine crime clan in their ongoing feud with the rival Hamzys.
Zakaria had been living freely abroad in Turkey until January 2023, when he was captured in Bodrum on the country’s southwest coast.
It is understood he is pushing to be sent to Afghanistan, where he is a dual citizen, instead of Australia.
DUAX NGAKURU
The former Comanchero Sydney boss and Australian Federal Police target Duax Ngakuru is believed to have been arrested in Turkey in January 2023 where he remains, after leaving Australia in 2010.
Despite underworld sources claiming “Dax”, as he is known, was out of prison, government sources said they believed he was still being detained in Turkey in a move which has thrown the once-powerful bikie club into disarray.
Ngakuru, 42, who left Australia over thirteen years ago, had just taken the reins of the club after former high-profile leader Mark Buddle was himself arrested in Turkey and extradited to Australia in August.
The AFP has been enthusiastic that Ngakuru will be extradited back to his birth-nation of New Zealand, but it is yet to eventuate.
RAFAT ALAMEDDINE
The alleged leader of the Alameddine OCN has been overseas since late-2022 when he was found not guilty of several matters in the NSW District Court.
Photos have since emerged of Rafat living the life in Lebanon with his friends, with one source explaining a major benefit of living abroad.
“He doesn’t even know what a police officer looks like over there,” they said.
HAMDI ALAMEDDINE
Hamdi Alameddine has made several trips overseas in the past year, joining his cousins including Rafat.
His first trip journey abroad came after he and cousin Rafat were found not guilty of several matters in the NSW District Court last year, before he returned back to Sydney to face the NSW Local Court for breaching an order banning him from visiting Crown Casino.
With that case complete, Hamdi went back overseas in the past two weeks.
MOHAMMED “LITTLE CRAZY” HAMZY
Convicted killer Mohammed Hamzy’s release from prison had the underworld talking in June this year.
He had been behind bars in recent years as several members of his family Mejid Hamzy, Ghassan Amoun and Bilal Hamze were killed, and there were immediately fears over his safety with talk of a bounty on his head.
As a result, the man known as “Little Crazy” had his parole relaxed so he could fly overseas last month, but in a statement his lawyer said after visiting family abroad he would return to Sydney.
JOHN RAY BAYSSARI
The Alameddine associate has regularly been by the sides of his high-profile friends in recent years, and was even allegedly on the run with Zakaria and Younes as NSW Police hunted them in 2021.
He has again appeared in photos this year next to Alameddine figures including Rafat, Younes and others in Lebanon.
HAKAN AYIK
The drug kingpin who is on the FBI’s most wanted list for his alleged role in running the AN0M app across the world grew up on the streets of Sydney.
But having left Australia behind almost a decade ago, Hakan Ayik has firmly entrenched himself as an international heavyweight of the underworld with strong links to the Comanchero.
The man known as “Big Hux” was allegedly the one who green-lighted a bid to assassinate Mark Buddle almost two years ago in Dubai.
BILAL HAOUCHAR
Bilal Haouchar is still considered to have an extreme amount of power and influence over the happenings on the city’s streets, despite having lived more than 14,000km away in Lebanon since 2018.
Haouchar has been avoiding NSW Police – with use of his Lebanese dual citizenship – since not long after he found out authorities wanted to ask him questions over at least three murders.
MOHAMAD ALAMEDDINE
Fresh off having a serious crime prevention order (SCPO) taken out against him by NSW Police, the figure known as “Almo” in the underworld has jetted off overseas again.
The Daily Telegraph understands Alameddine flew abroad in the past week, however it is not known where in the world he has gone – or when he is planning on coming back.
Despite his surname, Alameddine is not related to the crime clan targeted by NSW Police in recent years, and has closer ties to many involved in the Comanchero OMCG.
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