Comanchero boss will be regularly searched for safety
COMANCHERO boss Mark Buddle will be subjected to regular cell searches behind bars, with prison staff to add safeguards to protect themselves and Australia’s highest profile prisoner.
Buddle was expected to be held in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day at Barwon Prison, a maximum security jail in Victoria.
Sources say that the prison will have to significantly increase security for the 37-yearold because there were concerns about threats from other prisoners.
Prison authorities will have sophisticated intelligence on the prisoner, along with other highrisk inmates, and he was expected to have regular cell raids to check for mobile phones or other contraband.
The protocols for Buddle will be regularly updated as guards were put on high alert. Melbourne underworld figure Carl Williams was murdered inside a high security area of Barwon Prison in 2010.
His cellmate, Matthew Johnson, was sentenced to 32 years jail for beating him to death with a bicycle seat in an area that was monitored by closed circuit television cameras.
Corrections Victoria refused to confirm details of where Buddle was taken, or of any other prisoner. Other Comanchero bikies have been only allowed an hour a day out of their cell during their stints in Barwon Prison for their safety.
Secrecy has surrounded the man’s extradition from Turkey, with details only released after he landed in Darwin.
Buddle was transferred to Melbourne under the cover of darkness this week where he faced court on charges relating to the importation of 160kg of cocaine. It is understood he was first processed at the Melbourne Assessment Prison in the city’s central business district.
He fronted the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday but was expected to be taken to the maximum security Barwon Prison, outside Geelong.
Buddle’s high-profile arrest comes after some significant breakthroughs for Australian police.