Two of Australia’s most wanted Masood Zakaria, Duax Ngakuru fight for freedom in Turkey

Alameddine crime clan boss Masood Zakaria is fighting not to be deported from Turkey, alongside one of the alleged senior members of the Comanchero bikie gang.

Masood Zakaria is expected to return to court in Turkey this month.

The state’s most wanted man faced a Turkish court hearing last week where the Australian Federal Police pushed for him to be extradited, as rumours swirled a big bikie boss was going free.

Masood Zakaria will return to court in Turkey before the end of the month as he makes a desperate bid to avoid being sent back to Australia, the country he fled on a fishing boat in December 2021.

The 28-year-old is wanted for allegedly being one of the key orchestrators for the Alameddine crime clan in Sydney’s gang war with the rival Hamzy clan, and if he is sent back to NSW will face charges of conspiracy to murder Hamzy crime clan member Ibrahem Hamze.

Sources said one option Zakaria’s legal team may push for at his next court appearance would be being sent to Afghanistan, where he is a dual citizen, instead of Australia.

But once there he would likely try to make his way to Lebanon, where his wife and children, and good mate Rafat Alameddine, are all currently living.

Masood Zakaria left Australia in December 2021 after somehow becoming aware that NSW Police planned to arrest him.

Now he is fighting for his freedom in a Turkish court.

NSW Police believe that Zakaria became aware of their intentions to arrest him in December 2021 and fled the country, making his way from the east coast to Western Australia where he boarded a fishing boat that took him to Malaysia, from where he was able to make his way to Turkey.

Investigations continue into how he found out about the plans to arrest him.

Zakaria is wanted on an arrest warrant by NSW Police over his alleged role in the ultimately failed plot to murder rival gangster Ibrahem Hamze. Picture: John Grainger

The gang war of which he is allegedly an architect has seen a total of 16 murders linked to organised crime occur across Sydney since 2020.

The AFP’s efforts to have Zakaria brought home come amid underworld sources believing top Comanchero bikie Duax Ngakuru, another AFP target, managed to make his way out of a Turkish cell earlier this month.

Despite underworld sources claiming “Dax”, as he is known, was out government sources said they believed he was still being detained in Turkey.

“Rumours have being going around that he is out, but there is no evidence to suggest that,’’ he said.

Duax Ngakuru is thought to have been freed from a Turkish cell.

Ngakuru (left), who took over as International Commander of the Comanchero after the arrest and extradition of his mate Mark Buddle (right), has been living overseas for close to a decade.

Turkey had long been viewed as a safe haven for exiled Australian crime figures but that all changed with the return of former Comanchero International Commander Mark Buddle last August on drugs charges.

“After Mark Buddle was in Turkey there were similar stories that he had found a way to be released, this sounds exactly the same with Ngakura,” a source said.

The AFP has been enthusiastic that Ngakuru, who it is understood has taken over from his mate Buddle as International Commander in the wake of the latter’s return to Australia, would be extradited back to his birth-nation of New Zealand following his arrest in January.

The Daily Telegraph earlier this year revealed the most recent known photos of Ngakuru showing the bikie sitting on a yacht, holding on to a Turkish flag.

Ngakuru, whose wealth is estimated to be in excess of $100 million, had been living in Australia before he left for Turkey close to a decade ago, but if returned to New Zealand would likely be arrested there first on alleged money laundering and drug importation.

The Daily Telegraph earlier this year revealed the most recent known photos of Ngakuru showing the bikie sitting on a yacht, holding on to a Turkish flag.

In messages police say were uncovered as part of Operation Ironside investigations into the AN0M communication app, he and fellow senior Comanchero figure Hakan Ayik allegedly boasted about how much power they wielded in Turkey.