BIKIE BOSS’S PLOT TO GET OUT OF JAIL
A TOP-SECRET mission involving Interpol agents, the Turkish Coast Guard Command and local police was behind the dramatic arrest of fugitive Comanchero boss Mark Buddle at his northern Cyprus hide-out.
The raid and arrest were parts of a sophisticated and well-executed operation that nabbed Buddle and whisked him away to an isolated cell in an unnamed prison in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
His arrest and removal from the island were so covert that not even police outside the operation knew.
It can also be revealed that an investigative journalist close to the case and reporting on Buddle received death threats.
Federal authorities are now scrambling to find a way to get the Comanchero kingpin back to Australia.
Sources have said they will face numerous legal hurdles in their attempts to do so with the biggest problem being a lack of an extradition warrant from the Australian Federal Police.
This is despite them reportedly having enough evidence to charge Buddle in relation to Operation Ironside, the Australian component of a covert international investigation.
Buddle is known to have powerful Turkish criminal allies with links to highranking government officials who may be able to help him leave the country legally to somewhere other than Australia.
More details have now emerged about last Saturday’s shock arrest, which was so tightly managed it was initially speculated that the raid was a shakedown by local police posing as FBI agents.
Buddle was arrested on the Turkish-controlled north region of the island.
Turkish Republic of North Cyprus authorities say he had arrived on the island using a tourist visa about a year ago.
Sources in Cyprus said he had extended it twice in the past six months, promising authorities that he would invest in the area.
In a release report of the General Directorate of Police, it was revealed Buddle was removed over threats to public peace and security.
An Attorney-General’s Department spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment about the possibility of Australia seeking Buddle’s extradition.
Buddle fled Australia in 2015 when he was wanted for questioning over the murder of security guard Gary Allibon in Sydney.