Dubai warns Aussie gangsters: ‘you’re not welcome here’
Aussie gangsters, including suspects from NSW, have been warned in a specially made video that Dubai’s reputation as a safe haven for ex-pat criminals is a thing of the past.
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Aussie gangsters, including suspects from NSW, have been warned in a specially made video that Dubai’s reputation as a safe haven for ex-pat criminals is a thing of the past.
The three-minute video was posted on Facebook and other social media platforms overnight with Dubai Police highlighting the arrest of two alleged Sydney drug syndicate bosses recently in a joint operation with NSW and Federal Police as an example of co-operation between them and Australian authorities.
Over the past decade Dubai has become popular with outlaws from all over the world as a destination to do business and party, with many Sydney bikies among them.
Comanchero bikie leader Mark Buddle is known to spend extended periods of time there as well as wanted former Comanchero Hakan Ayik.
Dubai police took the unusual step of going public highlighting the arrest of two Sydney men, Benjamin Neil Pitt and Mathew Battah in the United Arab Emirates three weeks ago for alleged major drug importation, as an example of how they are working with NSW and Australian Federal Police.
Australian authorities are working with Dubai Police to arrange the extradition of the men, who have not yet been charged.
The video opens with the boss of the NSW Organised Crime Squad, Detective Superintendent Martin Fileman, outlining the arrest of two men and others in Sydney as part of a seven-year operation called Strike Force Millstream into the importation of illegal drugs from overseas.
Detective Fileman said police allege the dealers used around $54 million in proceeds of crime “to travel the world in luxury and live a life of opulence – while they knowingly preyed on the vulnerabilities of others.”
The Daily Telegraph understands NSW and Australian Federal Police have been working behind the scenes for the past few years to help Dubai police to identify individuals using the city to hide from Australian authorities.
“They hated the reputation in criminal circles that Dubai was safe,” said a senior Australian law enforcement source.
“And it’s pretty obvious they want the crims to know they are now not welcome there and they will help Australian police to arrest them’’ he said.
He said there would be a lot of nervous Aussies with shady backgrounds at the moment. “I’d expect some would be thinking of moving to Turkey or Greece where it’s a lot harder for us to get extradition,” he said.
Dubai authorities said they have a “long-established partnership” with Australian law enforcement and maintain “active channels of communication” to combat transnational crime groups.
“The AFP and the Dubai Police stand shoulder-to-shoulder and are unified in their approach to combating these transnational crime syndicates operating in Australia and the United Arab Emirates,” AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said.
“We will continue to work closely together to dismantle these syndicates and bring offenders to justice”.
The arrest of Michael Ibrahim and a number of other men in Dubai in 2017 over a plot to import drugs was the first major sign that Dubai i was willing to help outside police arrest those wanted for crimes outside Dubai.