Bikie boss Duax Ngakuru to be deported from Turkey

The new global leader of the Comancheros, Australian-New Zealander Duax Ngakuru, has been detained in Turkey.

Duax Ngakuru, the former Sydney Commanchero boss, is now considered the supreme commander of the bikie gang.

The new international leader of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, Australian-New Zealander Duax Ngakuru, is set to be deported from Turkey.

Turkish media has confirmed Ngakuru was detained in a raid in Istanbul by organised crime authorities.

The Daily Sabah newspaper said he had been handed to immigration officials in preparation to be deported to NZ to face serious drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

Described as an “Australian drug lord’’, Ngakuru has been handed over to the Provincial Immigration Service for deportation.

“According to the investigation carried out by the Department of Fight Against Organised Crime in Istanbul, it was determined that the suspect was staying at an address in Zekeriyakoy neighbourhood of Istanbul’s Sariyer district,’’ Daily Sahab reported. “The suspect, who allegedly managed the drug trafficking and a cash flow of approximately $100m, was caught during the raid and later taken into custody.’’

Ngakuru leaves Central Local Court in Sydne in 2010.

The paper reported that Ngakuru was detained last Friday.

The arrest of Ngakuru, the right-hand man of Australia’s most wanted man, gangster and Comanchero associate, Hakan Ayik, is the latest by Turkish authorities who are cracking down on exiled gangsters trying to avoid authorities by taking up residence in Istanbul.

Zekeriyakoy district, on the European side of the famous Borphorus Strait waterway which divides Istanbul, is a short distance from the Kings Cross Hotel, which is owned by Ayik and is the de facto headquarters of the Aussie Cartel, a group of Australian gangsters who fled to Turkey in a bid to escape law enforcement in Australia.

At the end of 2017, Ngakuru returned from Turkey to NZ to visit relatives, but as soon as he touched down he was under close watch of the National Organised Crime Group, a division of the NZ Police who target and disrupt serious organised crime.

Detectives reportedly suspected he was planning to expand his drug distribution network in NZ, but chose not to arrest him when he flew home to Istanbul to give them more time to gather evidence. He never returned.

Ngakuru is alleged to have “personally made more than $100m from drug dealing” and has ties to international organised crime groups including Mexican cartels, and his network is allegedly involved in the smuggling of “vast quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into NZ, with street values in the tens of millions of dollars.”

He is believed to have been communicating through the encrypted AN0M app, which was being monitored by police.

In 2021, the AN0M app captured a conversation between Ngakuru and another AN0M user in NZ, known by the handle “new i.d selectlove’’, discussing an incident where former Comanchero boss Mark Buddle, who was also arrested and extradited from Turkey last year, had a run-in with a group of British tourists in Dubai after a young man slapped Buddle’s then wife, Mel Ter Wisscha, on the bottom.

Ngakuru expressed support for Buddle’s decision to leave Dubai and head for Turkey, saying the Comanchero would “win the war’’ against the Australian Federal Police if he could make it to Turkey. The other AN0M user praised Ngakuru’s ability to stay under the radar and avoid media attention.