Net closing on drug kingpin and Comanchero bikie boss mate

Turkish police close in on Australia’s most wanted man, Hakan Ayik, and his offsider, Duax Ngakuru, the global Comanchero boss.

A selfie of Hakan Ayik (R) and Duax Ngakuru at the Kings Cross Hotel, which Hakan Ayik is involved in. The picture was taken in 2020

Authorities are closing in on the international drug-smuggling operations of Australia’s most wanted man, Hakan Ayik, and his offsider, the global boss of the ­Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, in Turkey.

Rumours swirled on Sunday that Duax Ngakuru – a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised drug smuggler recently elevated to international supreme comman­der of the Comanchero – had been detained by Turkish police.

Ayik and Ngakuru, who met in high school in Sydney, were photographed together outside the Kings Cross Hotel in Istanbul, which is owned by Ayik and operates as the headquarters of the Aussie Cartel, a group of Australian drug smugglers and gangsters linked to the Comanchero.

The previously unseen photograph, a selfie, was taken by Ayik in 2020 and posted on the encrypted AN0M app, which was being secretly monitored by police.

AFP assistant commissioner Nigel Ryan warned it was only a matter of time before police caught up with those hiding offshore and running criminal cartels targeting Australia.

“Organised crime figures who think they can fly under the radar in another country, while they continue to make money from trafficking dangerous drugs into Australia, should realise they have a real and genuine problem,’’ he told The Australian.

“Countries around the world have indicated to the AFP they are taking action against people using or thinking of using their countries as a safe haven.

“Turkey is a regional leader in the fight against transnational serious organised crime groups, and among numerous law enforcement agencies of other countries working with the AFP through our international network to create a hostile environment for groups with Australian links.

“This co-operation includes intelligence sharing on an unprecedented level, joint targeting operations and actively working to identify people in those countries who seek to exploit Australian communities.’’

Hakan Ayik had travelled to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as well as into mainland Turkey and Dubai to flee authorities.

The Australian can reveal Ngakuru and another exiled ­Comanchero, Ray Cilli, are trying to locate the multimillion-dollar assets of jailed former comrade Mark Buddle, as an international leadership struggle engulfs the outlaw motorcycle gang.

Ngakuru stepped into the leadership vacuum at the top of the Comanchero hierarchy after Buddle was deported from Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus last year.

International law enforcement sources said Ayik was the puppetmaster pulling the strings of former high school buddy Ngakuru, who declared himself supreme commander of the Comanchero following Buddle’s deportation to Australia, where he is facing charges alleging he was involved in smuggling $40m worth of cocaine into Melbourne in 2021.

Ngakuru and Ayik, a Turkish-Australian who renounced his Australian citizenship in a so-far successful bid to avoid extradition to Australia, remain close, consorting together in Turkey.

However, Ayik has expressed concern about Ngakuru’s activities in Asia, taking to AN0M to complain to his nephew, Erkan Dogan, about Ngakuru’s plans to travel to Thailand.

In correspondence on AN0M, seen by The Australian, Ayik snapped a photo of Ngakuru seemingly engrossed in his phone, and sent it to Dogan. The photo appears to have been taken at a dinner in 2019 in Turkey.

Ayik sent the message to Dogan, saying: “He made a comment that he’s off to Phuket tomorrow while he’s on a good wicket. I didn’t know how to take that What good wicket are you talking about you dumb f..k.”

Dogan replied, “Let them do their thing We’ll do ours”.

Ayik replied to his nephew: “We don’t need them cuz we know who our team are’’, with three emojis of fingers crossed, hands in prayer and a thumbs up.

Dogan told Ayik: “We don’t need them and we don’t want these pieces of …”, ending with an emoji of a pile of excrement.

A selfie of Hakan Ayik (R) and Duax Ngakuru at the Kings Cross Hotel, which Hakan Ayik is invested in. The picture was taken in 2020.

Law enforcement sources said the correspondence came at a time when Ayik, who considers himself in control of the Australian drug market, was upset to have been left out of a drug-smuggling operation in 2019.

While the men, and other associates who form the Aussie Cartel, had enjoyed relative freedom to operate in recent years, Turkish authorities have begun cracking down on international gangsters trying to shelter there. The deportation of Buddle, followed by deportation to Australia of alleged gangster Tony Haddad and alleged Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash, have made the Australian bikies nervous they too could be deported.

It has also caused significant tension among Australian members of the Comanchero, who are being forced to choose sides and declare loyalty to either Buddle, in jail in Victoria, or Ngakuru.

New Zealand has an arrest warrant out for Ngakuru, and Interpol has issued a red notice for him. His cousin, Shane Ngakuru, a fellow member of the Comanchero, was recently arrested in Thailand and will face trial in New Zealand.

Duax Ngakuru’s wife, Reynee, lives in Dubai with the couple’s four children in a wealthy enclave known as The Lakes, where houses sell for millions of dollars. The family left Australia for Dubai in 2011.

Her husband lives in Turkey, but is known to have travelled to party hotspots Cancun in Mexico and Ibiza in Spain, with Ayik, prior to international Covid lockdowns.

Duax Ngakuru is thought to have renounced his Australian citizenship, but retained his New Zealand citizenship. The Australian Federal Police lists him as a “high-value target’’ and his recent elevation to international commander of the Comanchero has brought increased scrutiny from policing agencies.

A picture taken by Hakan Ayik of Duax Ngakuru engrossed on his phone

Police allege he has been involved in importing tonnes of illicit drugs into Australia over the past decade, and that he has links to South American, Southeast Asian, European and Canadian crime syndicates involved in the wholesale manufacture and supply of illicit drugs.

He is thought to have amassed wealth in excess of $100m.

In 2021, the AN0M app captured a conversation between Ngakuru and another AN0M user in New Zealand, known by the handle “new i.d selectlove’’, discussing an incident where Buddle had a run-in with a group of British tourists in Dubai after a young man slapped Buddle’s 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 AFP if he could make it to Turkey.

The other AN0M user praises Ngakuru’s ability to stay under the radar and avoid media attention.

Ngakuru responds by reflecting on his decision to move from Australia and New Zealand to Turkey, saying: “Yeah hard place to operate that’s why I love it over these ways Good life there but hard to be a crook and get away with murders Lol”.

Shane Ngakuru, Hakan Ayik and Erkan Dogan are among the 17 men indicted by the FBI on racketeering charges over the AN0M app, which was touted as a secure encrypted platform where criminals could communicate safe from the prying eyes of law enforcement.

However, in what has become known as the sting of the century, the app was actually run by the FBI and monitored by the AFP, which copied and read more than 28 million messages sent over it, resulting in thousands of arrests across the globe.

Ayik was used by law enforcement to promote the app, not knowing it was actually a trojan horse that gave police access to a vast amount of information relating to money laundering, drug smuggling and murder.