Kidnap charge for exsoldier

THE alleged head of the Lone Wolf bikie gang, who was on bail for trafficking ice to the Gold Coast, has been charged with kidnapping as part of a Sydney gangland criminal investigation.

Erkan “Eric the Wolf” Keskin was arrested last week and charged with kidnapping, lying to the crime commission and demanding with menaces with intention to steal.

The charges are linked to the kidnapping of Mehmet Yilmaz before his murder outside the home of Comanchero bikie Hayan Chandab at St Marys, in Sydney’s west, in September last year.

Mr Keskin is not accused of having anything to do with his murder.

He was arrested at his luxury Sydney apartment last week and was granted bail on the fresh charges in a Sydney court yesterday.

Mr Keskin appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court earlier this year charged with involvement in an unrelated drug syndicate being operated in Queensland by Gold Coast man Paul Vella.

He was committed to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court for allegedly trafficking ice.

During the committal hearing, the court heard Vella met Keskin in Sydney on several occasions between November 2013 and April 2014 to arrange drug shipments to the Gold Coast.

Mr Keskin, a former Turkish soldier, was charged with trafficking in October last year.

He was granted bail in the Brisbane Supreme Court on a $700,000 surety.

Mr Keskin was ordered to wear a GPS tracking device while on bail.

During the bail hearing for the trafficking, the court was told he had “amassed a large wealth believed to be more than $4 million earned through the manufacture and sale of ice”.

Mr Keskin has not yet been required to enter a plea to the trafficking charges.

NSW Police yesterday charged several other men in relation to the kidnapping and murder of Mr Yilmaz.

The killing was one of eight gangland slayings investigated by NSW Homicide Squad’s Strike Force Osprey.

Five men have also been arrested at correctional facilities and charged in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Mr Yilmaz since Tuesday, including a former Rebels bikie.

Mr Yilmaz, 29, was shot dead outside the home of Comanchero bikie Hayan Chandab in Sydney on September 9, 2016.

Attempts have been made to contact lawyers for Erkan Keskin.