Comanchero bikie boss Mark Buddle has been deported from Turkey and is in police custody in Australia.
Buddle is suspected of being involved in major drug shipments to Australia and is a person of interest in the 2010 murder of NSW security guard Gary Allibon.
WATCH IMAGES OF THE ARREST IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
Buddle left Australia in 2016 and has since lived in various locations in the Middle East.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
IconFootage camera has appeared with Comanchero motorcycle boss Mark Buddle being frog-marched to a police station in handcuffs. Credit: Australian Federal Police/Australian Federal Police Camera icon The country’s most wanted man was arrested by the Australian Federal Police for alleged drug importation after landing in Darwin on Tuesday morning. Credit: Australian Federal Police/Australian Federal Police
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Buddle is suspected of having moved to northern Cyprus to avoid extradition to Australia, where he faces questioning over his alleged involvement in drug and murder investigations.
Northern Cyprus is not officially recognized by any country other than Turkey and does not share an extradition treaty with Australia.
Camera IconBuddle took over as boss of the Comancheros in 2009 following the imprisonment of former boss Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi. Credit: Provided
Buddle took over leadership of the Comancheros in 2009 when former boss Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi was jailed for a deadly brawl at Sydney Airport.
Hawi was later shot dead outside a gym in Sydney.
Buddle fled Australia in 2016 after being named a person of interest in the murder of a security guard and has since evaded authorities.
In 2010, Gary Allibon, 59, was shot in the back during the early morning robbery of a cash-and-carry van on Sydney’s Sussex Street.
He is understood to have handed over a box of money and had his hands in the air when he was shot.
Buddle is believed to have been a focus of police investigations, although no charges have been laid.
Camera icon Buddle is understood to have spent the last few years in different countries with his partner Melanie Ter Wisscha and their two children. Credit: Provided
For several years, Buddle lived with his long-time partner Melanie Ter Wisscha and their two children in Dubai.
Last year, a video surfaced of Buddle in an altercation with tourists at a Dubai pool.
Soon after, he left the country and the Sydney-born fugitive is believed to have traveled to Turkey, Greece and Iraq, before finally settling in northern Cyprus.
In 2021, Cypriot newspaper Kibris Gercek reported that senior politicians had granted Buddle residency until 6 August 2022.
The reason for the residence permit was reported to be his “high income”.
A Home Office statement said police had later determined Buddle’s presence was “inconvenient in terms of public peace and security”.