Alleged fugitive Nejmi Saki arrested in Turkey after six years on the run

Alleged fugitive Nejmi Saki was arrested in Turkey after six years on the run, while another man wanted over the AN0M encrypted app sting, Maximilian Rivkin, was also arrested.

Maximilian Rivkin was a major influencer of the AN0M Network. Picture: Swedish Police Authority

A man accused of orchestrating drug smuggling operations in Australia has been arrested in Istanbul as the Turkish National Police continues its devastating crackdown against alleged foreign organised crime and bikie figures.

Nejmi Saki, a Dutch-Turkish citizen who had been living in Australia before fleeing overseas, had been wanted on serious drug-smuggling charges in Australia since 2017.

Turkish police arrested him and four others on Saturday morning as part of their continued purge of foreign criminals alleged to have been using Istanbul as a safe haven to run international syndicates out of the reach of local authorities.

Saki is an associate of Australia’s most wanted man, Hakan Ayik, and Ayik’s close friend Hakan Arif, two Australians who were arrested by Turkish police last Thursday after a decade on the run. He was also connected to the Ibrahim family in Sydney, and was alleged to have operated a drug syndicate from Dubai, where he was living.

Thursday’s raids across Istanbul resulted in 37 people arrested, including eight Australians. The follow-up raids on Saturday also resulted in the arrest of another of the 17 men named by the FBI as being involved with the encrypted communications app AN0M.

The arrest of Maximilian Rivkin in Turkey came after the US State Department and Swedish Police Authority jointly offered a $US5m ($7.7m) bounty on the Serbian-born Swedish citizen who was also a key lieutenant of Ayik.

Rivkin’s arrests means 12 of the 17men named in the AN0M racketeering indictment are now behind bars, including seven Australians.

Maximilian Rivkin in his office in December 2020. Rivkin is a Swedish-based criminal of Serbian origin who police say was a major influencer of the AN0M Network. Picture: Swedish Police Authority

The app, promoted into the underworld by Ayik and others, was billed as being invisible to law enforcement but was actually a secret Trojan horse, with the 28 million messages sent on it intercepted and copied by the Australian Federal Police in Canberra.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Sunday that five more suspects had been arrested in Turkey “within the scope of the Comanchero organised criminal organisation”.

He said the groups was wanted in relation to establishing an ­organisation to commit a crime, international drug production, and trafficking and laundering proceeds of crime.

“Maximillian Rivkin, who is in the management team of Comanchero organised crime organisation, it was determined that he applied for Turkish Citizenship with the Bulgarian Passport issued in the name of Nikolaj Ankov, became a Turkish citizen and took the name Cem Cansu,’’ Mr Yerlikaya said on social media.

A reward of up to $5m was offered for Maximilian Rivkin. Picture: US Department of State

The AN0M logo on the screen of a smartphone. Picture: Olivier Morin/AFP

“Procedures for the withdrawal of Turkish citizenship were immediately initiated for this person. It was also determined that Maximillian Rivkin, who was wanted with an Interpol red notice, was a Swedish citizen of Serbian origin.’’

Mr Yerlikaya also described Saki as being a member of the Comanchero, and a “manager of the organisation wanted with an Interpol red notice”.

A number of Australians with Comanchero links have been swept up by Turkish specialist police, including Ayik, Duax Ngakuru, Hasan Topal, Baris Tukel, Arif and Erkan Dogan.

Some of the men may appear in Turkish courts this week.

All seven Australians indicted over the AN0M app have now been arrested, in Turkey, Australia, Colombia and Thailand.

And the AFP has arrested more than half its 20-plus targets identified under Operation Gain, a specialist investigation taskforce set up in 2020 to catch Australian alleged organised crime figures who had fled. Another Australian man with links to the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, Mark Buddle, was deported from ­Cyprus, then Turkey, last year and is facing the courts in Victoria on drug-smuggling charges.