Suspected criminal syndicate ringleader and AN0M accused Danny Zayneh loses bid for bail
A Melbourne father charged over a plot to flood the city with $1bn worth of ice and cocaine is the powerful head of a transnational organised crime syndicate, police say.
Police & Courts
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A father from Melbourne’s west is the powerful Australian head of a transnational organised crime syndicate who has access to large quantities of “untraceable cash” and illegal firearms, police allege.
Danny Zayneh, who is currently languishing in a jail cell, faces the prospect of life behind bars after he was charged with conspiring to import $1bn worth of ice and cocaine into Australia using the encrypted app AN0M.
The suspected syndicate ringleader lived in the Werribee area with his wife and now six-year-old son when police descended on his home in June 2021.
It was there that police say they found $38,000 hidden inside a coffee machine and a Glock 17 pistol with ammo stashed under a patio tile.
Mr Zayneh launched his third bid for bail in the Supreme Court this week, where further details emerged of his role in the alleged plot to flood Melbourne with 1.6 tonnes of drugs.
The police informant, who was opposed to bail being granted, told the court Mr Zayneh “yields considerable power over others” and has “demonstrated a mindset to use violence to control and coerce others”.
The 39-year-old also has “overseas criminal contacts at his disposal who can assist him with fleeing the jurisdiction and avoiding apprehension”, he claimed.
Fighter Omar Dib, tradie Robin Reffo and International Motor Cars founder Joe Scordo are three of Mr Zayneh’s six co-accused, who allegedly planned to deliver the drugs to a humble suburban auto workshop.
But the informant said Mr Zayneh had an “apex” role in the syndicate, orchestrating the conspiracies together with the “offshore facilitators” and recruiting the Australian-based syndicate members.
Justice David Beach on Friday rejected Mr Zayneh’s application for bail, despite his family offering up a surety of $2.29m, ruling he posed an “unacceptable” flight risk.
But since Mr Zayneh and his co-accused are unlikely to stand trial before 2026, Justice Beach said the risk he poses may one day be viewed as acceptable if a trial is further delayed.
More than 40 Victorians were nabbed in Operation Ironside, after Australian Federal Police gained access to AN0M and were able to decrypt and read communications between members of the criminal underworld.
Justice Beach noted the admissibility of the AN0M messages remains in dispute, as legal challenges mount over the evidence.
He added that the case against Mr Zayneh was not “open and shut”.
“While the prosecution will allege that the applicant was in possession of an AN0M handset at the time of his arrest, there is no forensic evidence connecting the applicant with that device,” he said.
He has previously been denied bail in December 2021 and July 2022, with a court previously hearing the father was at risk of doing a “Mokbel” and fleeing the country if released.
Mr Zayneh and his co-accused will face a committal hearing to test the evidence against them on September 18.
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