Police have charged a man with helping an alleged drug smuggler – who is believed to be a key player in the Dural caravan fake terror conspiracy – to flee the country.
Sayit Erhan Akca, 35, is wanted for alleged drug smuggling but is believed to have fled the country in 2023, and has been living in Asia and Turkey ever since.
Sayit “Aron” Akca on holidays in Queensland before his disappearance. Credit: Facebook
Akca is believed to be a key player in the alleged fake terror conspiracy, including the discovery of explosives in a Dural caravan and a spate of antisemitic attacks, which police now believe were designed to either distract police or influence a prosecution.
Sources close to the investigation but not authorised to speak publicly said a man arrested by Australian Federal Police in Queensland on Thursday helped Akca escape.
Police allege the man, along with an accomplice, crewed a boat that collected Acka from another vessel at sea before the trio sailed from Thursday Island on September 21, 2023 to Phuket, arriving on November 2.
Akca was facing charges of dealing with proceeds of crime over $100,000 at the time of his escape and was later charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs. He was charged as part of the AFP’s Operation Ironside – a three-year covert operation targeting users of encrypted communications device AN0M.
Police have charged a Bundaberg man over the alleged plot to smuggle Akca out of Australia.Credit: AFP
The man who allegedly helped him flee Australia, a 57-year-old from Bargara in Bundaberg, will face court on Friday charged with people-smuggling and intentionally providing material to support resources to a member of a criminal organisation.
At a search conducted at a Bundaberg home, police allege they found messages on electronic devices between the man and “offshore criminal syndicate facilitators” – the pair discussing arrangements for Akca to flee the country.
