How one of the most wanted men in the country pulled the strings in police sting
Hakan Ayik has been sitting in a Turkish prison awaiting trial since 2023 with no word on his role in what the Australian Federal Police (AFP) described as the country's biggest organised crime sting.
Sydney-born Mr Ayik had led Australian law enforcement on a decade-long manhunt, avoiding capture for a series of alleged drug crimes, before his dramatic arrest in Istanbul.
In the time since he fled to Türkiye over a decade ago, police had alleged Mr Ayik helped form the "Aussie cartel", a group of overseas-based Australian drug importers.
It earned him a spot on NSW Police's "most wanted" list, where he remains to this day.
Their intelligence on Mr Ayik came after he was unwittingly recruited into spreading a police-bugged app, called AN0M, into the underworld by the AFP.
The joint AFP and FBI operation involved planting the devices into the hands of criminals and watching on as they used it to organise murders, drug shipments and beatings in Australia and abroad.
No AN0M cases against anyone charged in Australia have ever revealed what, if any, link they had to Mr Ayik, deepening the mystery of who one senior law enforcement source described as a "Mr Big of the underworld".
But a trove of court documents from the United States, released in recent months, reveal his alleged role in luring his mates into the police trap.
As part of their investigation the AFP revealed how rival bikies and crime families would work together using AN0M to supply drugs all over Australia.
In court documents from related AN0M cases in the United States, prosecutors described Mr Ayik as an "influencer" — a role that proved a profitable side hustle.
In one filing referring to Mr Ayik under his AN0M username "Oscar", one of his associates described how all the profits from the sale of 100 devices would go straight to him.
That transaction would earn him $75,000 in Bitcoin, according to court documents.
The same underling, the documents said, would go on to discuss in messages on the device how Mr Ayik and the crew could start a "VIP service" for certain AN0M customers.
Others paint the picture of Mr Ayik as being the go-to person for AN0M, who would go on to sell more than 12,000 devices as well as allegedly leading the Comanchero from overseas.
The Comanchero are one of the most powerful bikie gangs in Australia, who suffered a power struggle during Sydney's recent gangland war.
In another court document from the United States, an underling asks Mr Ayik: "Touching base with you in relation to AN0M device we prepared for client Tiger?"
Another describes how Mr Ayik is alleged to have sent clients to those under him and how those clients "paid cash through a family member" of Mr Ayik.
When news of the AN0M operation first broke, rumours from underworld and police sources purported Mr Ayik had fled for his safety to either Syria or Iraq.
Two years later in 2023, 46-year-old Mr Ayik would be apprehended shirtless by Turkish police in a posh apartment belonging to him in the heart of Istanbul.
Mr Ayik lived a life of luxury while on the run in Türkiye, though the alleged drug kingpin will likely never face justice down under.
Among the lavish hotels, cars and businesses in Istanbul, Mr Ayik was far from going to ground while wanted for a raft of serious drug offences across the globe.
Vast swathes of his wealth have now been seized by Turkish authorities who are prosecuting him for a series of alleged drug crimes and money laundering offences.
If convicted he faces 262 years in prison.
Mr Ayik was rumoured to be a billion-dollar bikie while posting flashy social media snaps on the run and estimates of his wealth ranged from $250 million to as high as $1 billion.
The former Sydney bikie is also wanted on a racketeering indictment in the US and appears on watch lists for police authorities from Europe to Australia.
After gaining Turkish citizenship while on the run it is unlikely he will be extradited anywhere due to Türkiye's laws of not handing over their own citizens.
Mr Ayik's base in Istanbul included the hotel with a nod to his hometown, The Kings Cross Hotel, among his Turkish portfolio.
Prosecutors in Türkiye allege he would use Apex World Tourism Investments as a money laundering vehicle under one of his well-known aliases "Hakan Reis", according to corporate filings.
Another alleged proceed of what police claim is his global drug empire is a stake in a five-star resort in the Turkish beachside town of Alacati founded by him and a partner, corporate records state.
The resort has never been revealed to be among Mr Ayik's business ventures before, and to this day it is still offering enviable beach views and a luxury stay for sun hungry tourists.
It is unclear if it is among the seizures by Turkish authorities after Mr Ayik's arrest, though rooms at the highest rate currently go for more than $5,000 a night.
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