From gangland to Northland: What Tony Mokbel did on his first morning of freedom

Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel has spent his first full day of freedom in almost 18 years at Northland Shopping Centre after checking in at a nearby police station and going for a walk in the park near his sister’s home in Melbourne’s north-east, where he will be living while on bail.

Mokbel emerged from his new digs early on Saturday holding hands with a dark-haired woman, trailed by his sister, Gawy Saad, and her husband, Youssef. With a waiting press pack in tow, the family joined dog walkers at a Viewbank park for a stroll.

Tony Mokbel browses in Myer on his first morning out of jail in 18 years.Credit: Alex Coppel

Less than 24 hours earlier, Mokbel was granted bail by the Court of Appeal, as part of his quest to quash his drug-trafficking convictions, which his lawyers argue were hopelessly corrupted by the Lawyer X scandal.

Asked how he was feeling, he said he could not comment. “[Court] proceedings are afoot. I can’t say anything,” Mokbel told reporters on Saturday morning.

Later, after giving most of the press the slip, the 59-year-old stopped by Northland Shopping Centre with the same dark-haired woman. Holding her hand and smiling in a hat and sunglasses, he browsed the wellness and perfumes section of Myer.

But Mokbel declined to comment on his plans – or his impressions of life on the outside after almost two decades – when asked by The Age.

With a clutch of shopping bags boasting brands from Myer to discount perfumery ESNC, Mokbel and his companion left the shops less than an hour later.

The former gangland boss once boasted his own fashion label (cheekily named “LSD”) in his days running a multimillion-dollar drug empire. But on Saturday, he opted for low-key black sportswear, knowing the new accessory on his ankle – an electronic monitoring bracelet – would catch enough attention.

Just after lunchtime, Mokbel’s companion drove back to his sister’s house, pulling into the garage with no apparent sign of Mokbel but a large pile of items in the back seat.

Having spent most of the past decade in Barwon Prison’s high-security units, Mokbel now faces a strict new bail regimen.

He is subject to about 30 conditions, including a curfew, daily reporting at his nearby police station – which he did just after 9.30am on Saturday – and a ban on using smartphones or encrypted apps.

Tracking his every move via his ankle bracelet is a private bail company, which Mokbel is paying $25,000 a year to keep him secure outside prison.

He cannot leave the state or go near any points of “international departure”.

Last time Mokbel was out on bail, almost 20 years ago, he orchestrated one of the most infamous escapes in Australian history – smuggling himself out of the country in a specially designed yacht – before being tracked down in Greece a year later, in a restaurant wearing a bad wig.

Mokbel and his companion in the car park of Northland Shopping Centre on Saturday.Credit: Alex Coppel

Mokbel’s fame as one of the few surviving bosses of the original gangland war is expected to protect him on the streets of Melbourne, as a new and violent battle rages for control of the black-market tobacco trade.

But he may not be welcome everywhere. The well-known gambler was one of the first people ever banned from Crown Casino and helped spark a ban on suspected organised crime figures from racetracks when he attended Oaks Day at Flemington while on bail.

Just hours after walking free again on bail on Friday afternoon, Mokbel visited the graves of his mother, Lora, and brother Milad, who both died while he was in jail.

Tony Mokbel and a female companion strolled around Northland shopping centre on his first morning of freedom in almost two decades.Credit: Sherryn Groch

During Friday’s court hearing, his sister Saad agreed to put up a $1 million surety – $100,000 from a bank cheque and the rest in equity from a home in Yallambie – to secure her brother’s release.

Mokbel promised to abide by all the bail conditions, arguing he had strong ties to the community, including a long-term girlfriend. The court heard he was no longer the man he once was, after surviving a serious assault in jail in 2019.

On Saturday, Gawy and her family were seen installing security cameras at the property, and a large flatscreen television was delivered.

Mokbel is the latest in a string of gangland figures to be awarded bail – or have their convictions thrown out – since it was revealed their lawyer Nicola Gobbo was also a secret informer for police, known as “Lawyer X”.

Mokbel’s ankle bracelet.Credit: Alex Coppel

With Ashleigh McMillan

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