by Jonathan Spicer
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey said on Thursday it had captured Hakan Ayik, one of the top fugitives wanted in Australia on drug trafficking charges and also being pursued by U.S. and New Zealand authorities, along with 36 others involved in an international network of organized crime.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the arrests in Istanbul targeted the Comanchero armed motorcycle gang which he said was involved in drug trafficking, killings, looting and money laundering in the whole world.
Nicknamed the “Facebook gangster” in Australia, Hakan Ayik has been on the New South Wales state’s most wanted list for more than a decade for “supplying large commercial quantities of drugs”.
The US FBI said it unwittingly helped authorities monitor and arrest hundreds of suspected criminals in recent years through its use of a mobile app developed by the Bureau of Investigation.
Along with Duax Hohepa Ngakuru, Hakan Ayik, also known as Reis, had been running the criminal network for at least a year, Ali Yerlikaya said on X (ex-Twitter). He was wanted by US and Australian authorities, and Duax Hohepa Ngakuru, who was also arrested, was wanted in New Zealand, he added.
The Istanbul public prosecutor has opened a judicial investigation against the Comanchero motorcycle gang, accusing it of having laundered its assets in Turkey. According to Ali Yerlikaya, drug trafficking extended to South America, Australia, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, South Korea and South Africa.
Reuters was not immediately able to contact a spokesperson for Hakan Ayik.
The Turkish government released video of the arrests showing armed special agents and drug enforcement agencies knocking on doors of apartments and houses, arresting several men and seizing handguns and stacks of foreign bank notes .
The video shows a man believed to be Hakan Ayik, kneeling, handcuffed and shirtless, with a large tattoo on his shoulder matching images previously posted on social media.
ANOM APPLICATION
Australian police arrested associates of Hakan Ayik in 2010 in connection with a drug delivery. Interpol issued an arrest warrant for him after he failed to return from a trip to Hong Kong.
According to an FBI indictment made public in 2021, Hakan Ayik was one of three administrators and four responsible for setting up and disseminating the An0m application within criminal networks.
Users believed they were protected by an encrypted application, even though the FBI had access to their conversations.
Born to Turkish immigrant parents, Hakan Ayik grew up in Sydney, but it was not until around 2005 that he was spotted by Australian police, local media reported.
He flaunted his wealth and extravagant lifestyle on Facebook, which attracted the attention of authorities and the public, and earned him his nickname.
In 2021, two employees of the Kings Cross Hotel, located in Istanbul’s upscale Levent financial district, said that Hakan Ayik was the owner and that he returned there often. The 13-room hotel has a spa and a Japanese restaurant. His business card bears the slogan: “Sleep your way to the top.”
(With contributions from Ezgi Erkoyun in Istanbul and Kirsty Needham and John Mair in Sydney; French version Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Kate Entringer)
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