Dead bikie boss Erkan Keskin named in plot to kill Mark Buddle

A group of Sydney-based drug smugglers planned to use dead bikie boss Erkan Keskin in a plot to kill international drug lord Mark Buddle.

A group of Sydney-based drug smugglers planned to use dead bikie boss Erkan Keskin in a plot to kill international drug lord Mark Buddle.

The Snitch can’t tell you who they are because of a pending court case, but we have seen the police intelligence that captured their phone conversations that detailed the plot.

In short, the Sydney drug smugglers got into a dispute with Buddle and were under the impression that he was planning to kill them. It follows The Telegraph’s revelations in December that the Comanchero bikie boss in exile was believed to have a contract out on his head.

So, as things go in the underworld, our drug dealers decided their best defence was an offensive strike and they formulated their own plan to kill Buddle.

The only problem was that Buddle is notoriously hard to find these days.

Erkan Keskin outside court in 2018. Picture: AAP Image

He has been spotted in Cyprus of late, and has done stints in Lebanon and Dubai on his seemingly all-stops “Avoid the Cops” world tour.

According to text messages seen by Snitch, the dealers believed Keskin — who was found dead weeks ago after a six-day party binge in Turkey — could help them locate Buddle.

It is not known if Keskin was aware of — or supported — the plot to kill Buddle. It seems unlikely, given Keskin and Buddle were reportedly friendly in recent times.

But at one point in the conversation, one of the drug dealers said Keskin and Buddle weren’t getting along at that point in time.

So, you never know, the criminal underworld is a volatile place. After all, 22 high-profile gangsters and their associates have been slain since the Sydney Airport bikie brawl 12 years ago.

Anyway, our drug dealers were under the impression that Buddle was stationed in Turkey. And given Keskin’s Turkish links, one of them suggested: “I’ll ask Eric to help locate him.” Keskin also known as Eric the Wolf,was believed responsible for a number of underworld hits in Sydney which changed the dynamics of the city’s underbelly.

Comancheros Boss Mark Buddle was last spotted in Cyprus. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The postscript is that the plan must have failed or fallen through.

Buddle is apparently still alive. Keskin died in a Turkish hotel room in March following a reported six-day party.

Say no to drugs, kids.

CHANGE OF PACE

You can expect to see the trial of the men accused of kidnapping ex-Test cricketer Stuart MacGill to get going sooner rather than later.

Central Local Court magistrate Robert Williams blew up in his own uniquely measured manner last week when the lawyer for Marino Sotiropoulos, the man accused of orchestrating the alleged kidnapping — and the brother of MacGill’s girlfriend — asked for the matter to be adjourned.

Stuart MacGill at the simulcast of the state memorial service for Australian cricketer Shane Warne last week. Picture: Getty Images

Williams told Sotiropoulos’s legal rep that if he granted the request it would mark the “sixth time” the matter had been granted “the same adjournment”.

“This matter will be marked to proceed on the next occasion,” Williams told the court.

If the matter goes to trial, the serious nature of the charges will mean that the matter will be heard in the District Court.

Sotiropoulos has been charged with take/detain in company with intent to get advantage occasioning actual bodily harm over the alleged kidnapping of MacGill in April 2021.

Court documents allege MacGill introduced Sotiropoulos to his friend, drug-dealer Zachary Ahmad El Kheir.

Police allege El Kheir stole 2kg of cocaine from Sotiropoulos and that MacGill was held responsible.

BIKIE BUMP

We’re told that senior Comanchero (do we even need to call them bikies any more?) Tarek Zahed was rear-ended at a set of traffic lights last week.

You’d think the poor person who did it would be terrified, but it was actually the cops who bumped his vehicle.

Zahed was apparently in a BMW M5 — not a bike — at a set of lights in Arncliffe.

We’re told that when a police car a few cars behind Zahed turned on its flashing lights, he attempted to move out of their way.

But the police car then rear-ended Zahed’s Beamer.

It turns out the police were actually after Zahed and bumped his car in the process of pulling him over.

The officers searched the car for a nil result.

Zahed reportedly quit Sydney for Melbourne earlier this year over complaints that the police were making his life a misery.

It might be time for another spell down south.

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