By Perry Duffin
An alleged leader of the Hells Angels bikie gang, wanted in NSW after a major drug network went up in flames, snuck into Thailand on a private plane with a false passport before being pulled from a luxury villa hideout, local officials claim.
Thai authorities, in unrelated stings, have also unearthed tonnes of drugs earmarked for Australia’s shores by major criminal syndicates.
Photographs released by Thai authorities purporting to show the arrest of Australian alleged Hells Angels leader Rodrigo Elices in a luxury condo in Thailand in December. Credit: Thailand Immigration Bureau
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau last month alleged an Australian national had entered their kingdom using an Italian passport with what they suspected was a false name.
Fingerprints linked to the Italian passport matched a 31-year-old Australian, identified as Rodrigo Elices, Thai officials claim.
Thailand’s investigators worked with the Australian embassy to trace the Italian passport and discovered Elices had allegedly chartered a private plane to enter the kingdom on a 30-day visa exemption for tourists, and had tried to extend his stay.
But Elices was no rich tourist – Australian authorities told their Thai counterparts he was a major player in the Hells Angels and held a significant role in a drug network before it was dismantled in late 2022.
Thai authorities spell out the investigation and arrest of Elices who they allege is an “Aussie Hells Angel” in a presentation in December.Credit: Thailand Immigration Bureau
“Elices is a key suspect in Australia, a leader of the Hells Angels gang [allegedly] involved in a drug trafficking network, smuggling drugs and firearms ... [With an arrest warrant] for importing 14 kilograms of methamphetamine, and for participating in an international criminal organisation,” the immigration bureau’s statement claimed.
NSW Police began hunting Elices after a drug house in Kogarah caught fire in October 2022, The Sydney Morning Herald has been told by Australian police sources who cannot be named for operational reasons.
Police found a badly burnt 51-year-old man outside the house and a search, in Kogarah and at other properties across the city, unravelled an alleged drug supply network.
Elices (centre, face blurred) and Thai officials with passports allegedly seized in the raid.Credit: Thailand Immigration Bureau
Inside the properties, police allegedly uncovered 5.7 kilograms of cocaine, $15,000 cash and drug manufacturing equipment. The burnt man and two others were charged with supplying drugs and remain before the courts.
Elices, police suspect, fled to Thailand before the anti-gang squad Raptor and detectives from Strike Force Caste could catch him.
But Australian and Thai authorities tracked Elices to a “luxury condo” in downtown Bangkok last month and swooped, officials said.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed to the Herald that they had provided intelligence to Thai authorities about Elices’ alleged entry to the kingdom, and his suspected hiding spot.
Photographs of the raid show Elices shirtless and handcuffed at a dining table as Thai officials lean over him, arraying photographs and documents in front of the alleged fugitive.
Another photograph shows Elices, his face blurred, flanked by officials displaying both Italian and Australian passports.
Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau, pictured in 2019 with seized drugs, recently seized tonnes of methamphetamine headed for Australia.Credit: AP
“Elices admitted to fleeing Australia using [the Italian] passport to enter Thailand and had previously applied to extend his stay in the kingdom,” the immigration statement, dated December 6, alleges.
“After learning that the Australian police had co-ordinated with the Thai Immigration Police, he attempted to evade capture.”
Elices was arrested and charged with using a passport inappropriately in a way that could harm the public.
This masthead has been told by police sources that Australia would seek to have Elices deported once his Thai court matters were finalised to face charges related to the drug network in Sydney.
Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have become popular destinations for Australia’s most wanted over the past decade as criminal syndicates battle to control supply chains for the drug market.
Just a few months before Elices allegedly fled Sydney the Australian Federal Police vowed to crack down on the Hells Angels, Bandidos, Comanchero and Lone Wolf gangs who, the police said, had all “expanded their influence in South-East Asia”.
Thailand’s authorities, at the end of 2023, announced two major drug busts where foreign distributors were planning to ship their products to Australia – neither is allegedly related to Elices.
Narcotics police raided a tugboat, moored on a pier outside a Phuket steel mill, on the morning of December 4 finding two tonnes of what they said was highly pure methamphetamine.
Pictures showing the arrest of 13 crew on a tugboat in Phuket in December after the discovery of two tonnes of meth, bound for the Philippines and Australia.Credit: Bangkok Post
Nearly 100 boxes were sealed with brown and blue box tape and stacked up inside the cabin. Inside officers found dried durian concealing the drugs.
A group of alleged smugglers leapt into the water but police managed to arrest all 13 men, local news reported.
“The drugs, once on board, were planned to be distributed to various smaller boats in international waters, with final destinations including the Philippines, Australia, and other countries,” a translated statement reads.
Thai authorities, in late October, revealed “Operation Mouse Hunt” which investigated a Nigerian drug trafficking syndicate, with an alleged leader going by the nickname “Mickey”, which was dealing in heroin, cocaine, ice and gold inside Thailand.
The syndicate was selling drugs to tourists in Bangkok but had “part of the drugs intended for further distribution” to Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, Thai authorities said.
“This group hired a machine shop to make chocolate moulds, mixing cocaine with chocolate and baking soda, and pressed it into chocolate bars for smuggling and sale abroad,” the narcotics bureau said in a translated statement.
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