Crim treasure hunt for Buddle’s booty
UNDERWORLD figures who have aligned themselves with Comanchero boss Mark Buddle are scouring the Middle East and Europe to hunt down his hidden millions after a split in the bikie gang’s leadership.
Sources said they believe Buddle’s criminal underlings “lost the key” to a glitzy apartment in Istanbul’s luxurious Sapphire Tower (pictured above right), where he set up a base after fleeing Dubai.
Those loyal to Buddle are concerned the empire he left behind when he was extradited back to Australia last July could “fall into the wrong hands”.
The race comes with tensions rising after a split inside the Comanchero between those loyal to Buddle or fugitive drug lord Hakan Ayik.
The Sapphire apartment is rumoured to be worth $1.5m with an envious view of the ancient city, in a building that also features a golf range.
Among his assets it is understood Buddle had multiple villas in the Turkish holiday town of Bodrum. His ex-wife Mel Ter Wisscha moved there, and posted on social media from there after Buddle was arrested.
Sources said Buddle’s associates have been tracing these assets since he was arrested last year.
In the Turkish republic of North Cyprus, where he was apprehended at gunpoint last July, Buddle had shares in a tourism operator and several fuel companies.
Because Buddle had no warning of his arrest, a bikie source said his Comanchero comrades are being dispatched in an operation that involves tracking down paperwork and mining through files in foreign languages to determine what he actually owns.
Three local lawyers who allegedly assisted Buddle in buying up assets and helped launder $35m have been charged by police while Ozge, the woman he married there, is in hiding with her family.
Buddle is understood to have also amassed assets in Dubai during his years there.
He was returned to Australia in August to face drug charges relating to the alleged importation of $40m worth of cocaine. He is in a Victorian jail on remand.
The offences were allegedly uncovered after the AFP identified Buddle in a series of messages on its trojan horse underworld messaging app ‘An0m’. Ayik is believed to be one of the biggest distributors of the app after being fooled by an undercover agent into spreading the service among underworld associates.