Mongols bikie’s dash with $10,000 cash after encrypted app arrest

A Mongols bikie accused of plotting to import methamphetamine was arrested while trying to leave Australia carrying a near-expired passport, his birth certificate, and close to $10,000 in cash stashed in his luggage.

Emmanuel Anthony Kappos, 33, was picked up at Melbourne Airport on Tuesday night as he tried to board a flight to Qatar bound for a breakaway state in the Mediterranean.

Georgina Ktori, the mother of accused Mongols bikie Emmanuel Anthony Kappos outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.Credit: LUIS ENRIQUE ASCUI

Kappos was supported by his family and partner as he appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with two counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

The court heard Kappos had bought his plane ticket the day before his flight to Doha and told Australian Border Force officers he was planning to travel to Northern Cyprus, a de-facto state within the island that is recognised only by Turkey.

Kappos, who has been unemployed for some time due to an arm injury, told border officials he was leaving Australia “due to complicated personal reasons”. However, his mother Georgina Ktori told the court her son wanted to go on a holiday.

The court heard investigators were forced to pounce on Kappos earlier than planned. Officers were only three days into reviewing evidence about his suspected involvement in the plot to import methamphetamine into Sydney when his attempt to leave Australia set off alarm bells at customs.

AFP uncovered the alleged drug scheme while investigating Kappos as part of Operation Kraken – a coordinated international crackdown on the encrypted communications app, Ghost.

Officers were in the process of reviewing more than 280 pages of encrypted messages uncovered in a Ghost phone seized during a raid on Kappos’ Fawkner property when he was intercepted at the airport.

In the messages, Kappos, who police allege communicated under the pseudonym Akanobi, discussed the logistics of the shipments, which were to be disguised as glucose-monitoring devices and first-responder trauma kits, and the use of fake credentials to shore up customs documentation.

Chat log between Akanobi and user Olympus on August 19, 2024:

Olympus: Thanks for that. Let’s do this next one proper. Could have come today, latest tomorrow. Check email please.

Akanobi: What do you mean? Package or email? 

Olympus: Package bro. At the same spot. 

Akanobi: You never told me it got sent. Didn’t know another one was coming. 

Olympus: Yeah. Tell them to check the email and if they received a package. 

Akanobi: Can you check the tracking on your end? Any delays? Is it through? 

Olympus: Let him check it on their computer. 

Akanobi: Last time you could see if there [were] any delays … so we know it’s safe. 

AFP Constable Liam Cruise said investigators were still in the process of reviewing the material they had uncovered on the phone and were forced to put together a case against Kappos in a rush to prevent him leaving Australia.

The court heard Kappos is also being probed over a scheme to import 300 boxes filled with millions of illegal cigarettes into Australia from India and Vietnam.

Former nightclub boss Samuel Prosser and co-accused Joseph Hosri have both been charged with conspiracy to import tobacco products over the alleged illicit cigarette scheme. They have since been released on bail and are due to appear in court next year.

Kappos has not been charged over the alleged tobacco plot, but the court heard Operation Kraken investigators anticipate he could be charged with further offences.

Cruise told the court he believed Kappos was at risk of fleeing the country and interfering with Hosri and Prosser if he were released on bail.

“I have reason to believe from other evidence that I’ve seen in the chat ... that he would be a risk of committing violence or potentially interfering with witnesses,” Cruise said.

But defence lawyer Hayden Rattray argued Kappos should be released subject to strict conditions and a $480,000 surety.

Rattray described the prosecution’s case as weak and said investigators had so far failed to establish that the 33-year-old had been actively involved in importing the drugs, as opposed to simply knowing about the shipments.

Magistrate Tim Gattuso refused bail on the grounds the offending was too serious, and Kappos had failed to prove the exceptional circumstances required for his release.

Kappos’ sister stormed out of the courtroom as the decision was handed down, while Kappos’ mother and partner sobbed in the public gallery.

He will re-appear in court in February.

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