Bilal Haouchar wanted in Sydney, free to lunch with friends in Lebanon
Wearing a white T-shirt and tucking into kebabs, one of NSW’s most wanted men, suspected of being involved in at least three murders, is enjoying lunch with his mates in Lebanon knowing NSW Police can’t touch him.
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Wearing a white T-shirt and tucking into kebabs, one of NSW’s most wanted men, suspected of being involved in at least three murders, is enjoying lunch with his mates in Lebanon knowing NSW Police can’t touch him.
Bilal Haouchar fled Australia two years ago, before police had a chance to place an ankle monitor on him after his release from jail earlier that year.
The photo was taken two weeks ago, believed to be at a friend’s house near Beirut in Lebanon, a country with which Australia has no formal extradition treaty.
Police were furious the 34-year-old was able to get out of the country so easily while they had court action pending.
In June 2018 he was a free man, placed on a good behaviour bond after he had pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of a fatal shooting.
Police knew he was heavily connected in the Sydney underworld, with a reputation as a gun for hire, and sought an urgent hearing to have him placed on an extended supervision order so they could monitor his movements with an electronic bracelet.
At the hearing Justice Robert Hulme granted a two-year order allowing police and corrections officers to electronically monitor him but Haouchar had already fled the country to meet up with his good mate, former Commachero boss Mark Buddle, who lives in Dubai.
At the time, Justice Hulme was critical that Haouchar being able to flee the country “for as long as he likes is just one example of how relatively benign the present supervisory regimen is’’.
It is believed Haouchar, who was once arrested with Buddle, has moved between Dubai, Turkey and Lebanon, where he has been the past few months.
There is a warrant out for his arrest for the kidnapping of a man in Merrylands after he was released from jail and also for breaching the corrections order placed on him when he failed to turn up at court.
“You could say he is definitely a person of interest in a host of crimes including murder,’’ a NSW Detective said.
In the time he has spent in prison, where he was often classified as a high-risk inmate, Haouchar’s record stretches to three pages and he has been charged with breaking jail rules on 42 occasions.
He was charged with intimidation seven times and convicted on six.
For that, he was ordered off buy-ups for 60 days, was banished to his cell for 17 days, given no contact orders and banned from watching TV or using the amenities for two weeks.
In March 2015, he was given a week in his cell for fighting.
He has also been punished for using an unlawful phone, entering other cells, damaging property, assault, smoking, giving false information and disobeying directions.
“He is an extremely violent and dangerous person,’’ said a NSW Police detective.
“There’s no chance he will be coming back to Australia, as much as we would like him to … there are a stack of crimes we want to question him about.”