AFP documents reveal the ‘astronomical wealth’ of Facebook Gangster and AN0M distributor Hakan Ayik

This “Facebook Gangster” thought he was operating in secret. He was wrong. Now you can see what he had to say when he thought no one was watching.

From a marble-clad hotel in Istanbul, Joseph Hakan Ayik’s reach spread across the globe.

Using only an AN0M phone under the handle “Oscar”, Ayik was able to co-ordinate drug shipments from Colombia, South Africa and Pakistan, the movement of his network of associates across the globe as well as legitimate companies in Malaysia and South Korea.

Australian Federal Police documents released by the SA Supreme Court have revealed the extent of the 44-year-old’s global reach, as well as his reliance on the compromised AN0M platform.

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Ayik rose up in the criminal underworld as a drug dealer in Sydney’s southern suburbs but left the country in 2010 after his associates in an alleged 200kg heroin smuggling ring began to be arrested as part of a NSW Police investigation called Operation Hofmann.

He was arrested in Cypress in the same year and charged with entering a restricted military zone and possessing steroids. He was inexplicably granted bail and disappeared without a trace.

Ayik is suspected of installing himself in Turkey where he built an empire with Australia as its target. Now in hiding after the shutdown of the AN0M app and with rumoured threats on his life for helping distribute the phones, Ayik remains one of Australia’s most wanted.

News Corp revealed this month a new image and video of Ayik enjoying life in an up-market part of Turkey.

In the redacted notebook pages of a senior AFP officer released by SA’s Supreme Court, Ayik is described as having “astronomical wealth” and being a prime example of “the growing problem of fugitives off shore in the Middle East”.

As part of Operation Ironside the AFP were required to obtain Major Controlled Operations authorities signed off from either the AFP Commissioner or a Deputy Commissioner.

As these authorities had a set lifespan of only a few months, the officers on the ground were required to lodge extension applications and outline how the investigation was developing.

In these documents, released by the court, Ayik is “considered to be Australia’s highest profile off shore criminal”.

“Ayik is considered as having a significant impact on Australia through his close associations with the Comanchero OMCG and broader Middle Eastern organised crime environment,” the document states.

Ayik was already a user of encrypted communication platforms when he was first introduced to AN0M, which was described as the latest and most-secure generation of encrypted phones.

Unaware that the AN0M platform was being secretly monitored by both the AFP and FBI, Ayik enlisted an FBI confidential human source to outfit his organisations with the phones.

The AFP documents reveal that Ayik ordered phones for his operatives across multiple countries, including Australia, South America and Canada.

Accused drug lord Hakan Ayik is one of Australia’s most wanted fugitives.

From 2019 to 2021, the AFP watched as Ayik funded and organised multiple shipments of drugs into Australia.

In September 2019, Ayik and his operatives in Australia and South America organised two separate shipments.

According go the court documents, Ayik and Duax Ngakuru – a commander of the Comanchero also located in Turkey, who went by the handle “Negotiator” – allegedly organised a shipment from Panama which would be transferred to another boat near Coffs Harbour.

A second shipment was planned later in September where there would be “matrimony” between a ship from Colombia and a second vessel from Hong Kong bound for Australia.

The Colombian shipment was planned to contain around 200kg of cocaine, but the plan came unstuck when the Hong Kong ship ran into Typhoon Hagibis and was forced to turn back to port.

A Canada-based member of Ayik’s syndicate with the AN0M handle “ninja” was dispatched to Colombia to liaise with a contact known as “El Mito” to co-ordinate a second try.

A month later, Ayik was in negotiations with a Colombian member of the syndicate with the handle “four” to import cocaine disguised as “acetite de coco”, or coconut oil. An address in Liverpool, in Sydney’s western suburbs, was chosen for a dry run delivery.

In May 2020, Ayik was recorded trying to organise a cocaine shipment via container ship from Cartagena in Colombia.

A summary of Ayik’s empire included cocaine importation from South Africa and South America, methamphetamine production in Pakistan, the co-ordination of nearly a tonne of cocaine to arrive off the coast near Brisbane and the supply of precursor chemicals for use in the production of methamphetamine.

Hakan Ayik was distributing AN0M phones among members of his criminal empire in multiple countries.

A most recent publicly available image of Hakan Ayik, who is living on the run in Turkey.

“Analysis of the captured (communications) involving Ayik suggest he is giving consideration to using his established networks and company structures in Malaysia and South Korea as transhipment countries for drug shipments targeting Australia,” the AFP documents conclude.

Ayik remains an international fugitive with an Interpol red notice against his name, limiting his ability to travel.

He is named in an indictment issued by the United States Southern District of California as an administrator of the AN0M app who set up access for new users and could remotely wipe phones of anyone in his organisation.

Ayik is wanted in the United States on racketeering charges for his role in distributing the app. He is also one of the AFP’s most wanted on allegations of “supplying large commercial quantities of drugs”.

Originally published as AFP documents reveal the ‘astronomical wealth’ of Facebook Gangster and AN0M distributor Hakan Ayik