Turkish charges have been laid against 41 people alleged to be involved in a criminal syndicate run by Australian Hakan Ayik
Turkish charges have been laid against 41 people alleged to be involved in a criminal syndicate run by Australian man Hakan Ayik, who has been remanded in jail with 17 other accused.
Forty-one people including a number of Australians have appeared in court in Turkey after a series of raids by police targeting a criminal syndicate police allege is headed by former Sydney man, Australia’s most wanted fugitive Hakan Ayik.
Ayik, and his Comanchero associates Duax Ngakuru, Baris Tukel, Hakan Arif, Hasan Topal and Erkan Dogan were all remanded in custody.
Others to be remanded in custody include Swedish fugitive Maximilian Rivkin, wanted in the US for working with Ayik to distribute the encrypted app AN0M, and Nejmi Saka, wanted in Australia since 2017 over a major drug smuggling operation.
Sydney man Jimmy Awaijan was also remanded in custody while his wife Rana and 20-year-old son Romi were granted bail.
All up, 18 people were held in custody and 23 released on bail. Thirteen of those detained are considered major targets by the Australian Federal Police.
All are facing charges in Turkey alleging they played some role in a wide criminal syndicate Ayik was alleged to be operating out of Turkey.
The Turkish National Police have said most are accused of money laundering.
The group has been referred to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The decision by Turkey to lay domestic charges is significant, as a number of the Australians including Ayik had renounced their Australian citizenship and taken out sole Turkish citizenship in a bid to avoid extradition or deportation.
The raids on Thursday and Saturday last week represent a major blow to the criminal underworld, who had been using Turkey as a safe haven while continuing to run international drug smuggling and money laundering operations.
Ali Yerlikaya, a former governor of Gaziantep and Istanbul appointed to the role of Interior Minister in June, has taken a hard line against drugs and international criminals residing in Turkey since his appointment, overseeing a number of high-profile police operations including at Turkey’s seaports.
“We will not forgive organised criminal organisations and poison merchants,’’ he said on November 2 after the dawn police raids across Istanbul that saw 37 people arrested.
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