Jay Malkoun moved out of hospital as police tried to find him before his Mercedes was blown up

Former Comanchero bikie boss Jay Malkoun has been moved from hospital today as new details emerged of how Greek police were searching for him before his Mercedes was blown up.

Exclusive: Greek police had been trying to locate Australian bikie boss Amad “Jay’’ Malkoun for three months before he was seriously injured in a car bomb outside his gym in suburban Athens.

Police sources have confirmed to News Corp they had been trying to find Malkoun, 56, since about a month after another Australian, gangster John Macris, 46, was shot dead in the neighbouring suburb.

It is not clear if there is any connection between the two attacks, but News Corp has confirmed more potential links between the two men, who had both made the upscale seaside suburbs of Voula and Glyfada, known as the Athens Riviera, their home.

There is no suggestion Malkoun killed Macris.

Sources at the Asklipeio General Hospital, where Malkoun was being treated since the attack on Friday, said that he had been taken to an undisclosed location under police escort after a third round of surgery on Sunday morning.

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Amad “Jay’’ Malkoun on his wedding day. Picture: photorazzi.com.au

Greek police are believed to have asked Australian police for information on Malkoun, including his criminal history, as they try to establish a motive for the attack.

Detectives have also been trying to piece together his movements in the days and weeks leading up to the attack, including accessing CCTV from around the Mega Gym and Vouliagmenis Avenue where his car exploded.

Malkoun was thought to be undergoing surgery again overnight.

It can be revealed both Malkoun and Macris liked to eat at the same fish restaurant, Barbounaki, in Glyfada, with a waiter there confirming Malkoun dined there occasionally until last summer.

Macris, who is of Greek origin, was a regular at the eatery right up until his murder on October 31, and would go there regularly with his Ukrainian-born model and reality TV star wife Viktoria Karida.

News Corp previously revealed the two Australian men both worked out at the nearby Mega Gym fitness centre.

It was in a car park beside the gym where Malkoun was seriously injured when his white Mercedes blew up shortly after he got into the vehicle after his regular morning fitness session on Friday.

Greek police had been trying to locate Australian bikie boss Amad “Jay’’ Malkoun for three months.

Macris was also getting into his car when he was attacked by a gunman who shot him four times outside his house in Voula, just 1.5km away from the Mega Gym in Glyfada.

He had been heading to an office opening party on the same street as the Mega Gym when he was attacked.

The official Athens police spokesman did not confirm that officers were trying to track down Malkoun, but a police source did confirm police had been looking for the convicted drug trafficker and former president of the Victorian chapter of the Comancheros motorcycle gang for three months.

The source would not say what interest the police had in Malkoun.

No arrests have been made so far in connection with either the Macris shooting or the bomb attack on Malkoun.

There have been no reported sightings of the two men together, and there was no known public collaboration between the pair when both lived in Australia, with Malkoun establishing his power base in Melbourne, and Macris working out of Sydney.

Amad “Jay’’ Malkoun was seriously injured when his car exploded as the turned the ignition key in an Athens carpark.

But the coincidence of two Australian criminal identities ending up in the same area of the same foreign capital, and eating in the same restaurants and working out in the same gym, was striking.

The Athens chief police spokesman told News Corp that it was too early to say if there was any connection between the attack on Malkoun and the murder of Macris.

He said initial investigations suggested that an improvised explosive device was used to blow up Malkoun’s car.

The former Comancheros boss underwent surgery on Friday, the day of the attack, and was due to have another operation on Sunday, according to sources at the Asklipeio General Hospital, where he is being treated.

He received serious wounds to his lower legs and burns to his body when his car blew up.

Two plain clothes police officers were posted at the entrance to the orthopaedic ward Malkoun was recovering.

An English-speaking man believed to be a bodyguard was present with him in his room.

Malkoun, an Australian-Lebanese convicted heroin trafficker sentenced to 16 years jail for his involvement in a drug syndicate in the 1980s, did not appear to have received any visits from family members.

It was unclear whether his wife and children were with him in Athens.

Malkoun left Australia after discovering a police inquiry was underway into his activities, and moved to Thailand and Dubai before settling in Greece in about 2017.

He had Australian plates on his car, and a driver’s licence issued by the United Arab Emirates.

Australian police and Greek police are investigating whether a factional war within the Comancheros bikie gang in Australia is connected to the car bomb attack on Malkoun.

Sources say tensions are running high between Malkoun and Mick Murray, his former right-hand man and now national president of the Comancheros.

Malkoun handed control of the club to Murray in 2013, but the pair appear to have fallen out and members of the club are taking sides, despite Malkoun’s influence waning in recent years.

News Corp is not suggesting Murray has anything to do with the attack.

Macris moved to Athens several years ago. He said in 2009 that he had given up his life of crime completely and was now involved only in legitimate security businesses in his new life in Athens.

Originally published as Jay Malkoun moved out of hospital as police tried to find him before his Mercedes was blown up