Police were pretty certain alleged crime boss Masood Zakaria would never again be
locked in a cell in Australia after he fled that country shortly before police raided his house to
arrest him. But then this happened: "Obviously nowhere to hide? Your numbers up?" The
surprise scene of Masood Zakaria chained and guarded being paraded through Sydney's airport
and then, indeed being locked in a cell, back in the country where he was one of the most-wanted
fugitives. Another one bites the dust, metaphorically in this case. The Mob
Reporter here with news of the inglorious, enforced return of a Most-Wanted fugitive;
an immense man, physically yes, but more importantly immensely influential, police say, in a hyperactive
underworld world where billions of dollars are up for grabs. Let me tell you about
it. Authorities claim the 28-year-old Zakaria is a key man in one of Australia's most dangerous
and powerful crime syndicates, known as the Alameddine Family. He is pegged as
the Alameddine's number two man. Zakaria is the center of a Venn diagram of Sydney's underworld,
with overlapping circles looping around him of the Alameddine clan, biker clubs, and street
gangs — all allegedly working together to grab as much as they can of the state's nearly
$3 billion a year drug trade. That kind of money rarely goes unchallenged and it sure didn't
here. A war over Australia's particularly lucrative drug market took a heavy toll,
interwoven with an old blood feud between two crime families the Alameddine Clan and
the Hamzy Clan. Zakari's purported rivals have revolved around Bassam Hamzy, who has
been locked up since 1999 but exerts influence from behind bars. Here he is.
A charmer. There were at least 13 fatalities in 18 months leading into the spring of 2022. One
would-be hit, though, failed terribly. The target police say was this man Ibrahem
Hamze. He is facing charges of his own in connection to this shooting, outside a gym in
2021. But the purported botched hit on Ibrahem Hamze was foiled when men who were stalking
him in a stolen Mercedes stopped in a No Parking Zone, attracting attention from a passing police
patrol. The men in the Mercedes sped off in a panic, tearing through red traffic lights and sparking
a police chase. That was really the beginning of the end for Zakaria's charmed life in Australia.
Police say they tracked the car to Associates of the Alameddine and alleged Zakaria was in
on the plans, although not in the car. "Police search warrant! Open the door!" When investigators came to
arrest their suspects for the botched hit in December 2021, they simply weren't to be found.
It seems loose lips sank that ship. Zakaria left town shortly before this police raid on
his home. He traveled to the other end of the country — during the strict COVID lockdowns — and
then apparently hopped on a fishing trawler from Western Australia, landing in Malaysia. And from
there on to Turkey. While Zakaria apparently hooked up in Turkey with friendly members of
the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, police in Australia had to satisfy themselves with revoking
his driver's license and seizing his home. How he vanish just as the task force was coming for him
is something authorities are investigating. A year later, though, what a shock, and perhaps a thrill, for
those wandering travelers in Sydney airport at dinner time last week as a heavy police presence
paraded a handcuffed and hulking Zakaria from a plane to a waiting police van. It was big news in
Australia, where he was considered one of the country's most wanted fugitives. Zakaria's
touchdown sparked breaking news alerts on both 9 News and 7 News TV channels. He gave reporters
a bit of a show. He positively beamed and seemed to chuckle at the reporter's questions. His shirt
was open just enough for us to see his chest tattoo. We see it better here, in an earlier mug
shot. Masood Zakaria is the latest of Australia's most-wanted fugitives to no longer be wanted. And
the latest, in fact, to be arrested in Turkey. Many Australian crime lords have made Turkey
their home-away-from-home, a landing spot made more comfortable by the fact that some of the
dominant crime groups are under the leadership of men originally from the Middle East and are Muslim.
Now that's not to reflect on their demographic, only that their demographic makes it easier to
hide in Turkey. But right now, Turkey seems in no mood to put up with accused narcos and crime
lords any longer, which is a change from past years when it was hard to get well-connected
fugitives out of Turkey — and that's why many cops in Australia never expected to see Zakaria
again. Zakaria was in a luxury seaside villa in Bodrum, a picturesque port city on Turkey's
west coast, once the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He apparently
didn't take chances with his safety. According to reporting by Australia's Daily Mail, he had
a retinue of 10 bodyguards with him and his family. A midnight raid by 50 cops grabbed him
in January 2023. He was taken to a secure prison in Ankara, Turkey's capital, and kept on Ice while
he fought deportation to Australia. He asked to be sent to Afghanistan instead, where he
reportedly has dual citizenship, to no avail. He was deported to Australia, landing in Darwin, in
Australia's Northern Territory, last week. He was then slipped onto a commercial flight
to Sydney. I suppose "slipped" is the wrong word here. I'm not sure you just slip a daunting fella
of this size onto a plane. I pity his police escorts who shared the row with him. Once in
Sydney, Zakaria was refused release on bail pending trial. He faces charges of conspiracy
to murder, supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine, directing a criminal group, and more.
I just hope in the meantime his cell isn't anywhere close to Bassam Hamzy's. The Hamzy clan,
though, has largely been outmaneuvered and outgunned, as the Alameddine built strong
alliances. Photographs suggest Zakaria was a big part of the team building. Masood Zakariah is seen
as an important point of intersection between the Alameddine, the Comanchero, and the Hells
Angels motorcycle clubs. One of his apparent close associates is Hells Angel Mustafa Hafizi, who I told
you about in a recent episode. All of that makes for a powerful underworld alliance. Look how close
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