Underworld boss Mark Buddle may have been rounded up at gun point by local police impersonating FBI agents in an effort to extort the Comanchero boss.
Australia’s most wanted man, who fled the country in 2016 after being wanted in connection with several murders, was captured while returning to his hideout on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus by officers identifying themselves as FBI.
The infamous bikie, 44, recently left his latest safe haven on the island nation to meet with a high-profile international member of the gang in Germany.
He then travelled back to the nation’s north via Turkey, an area where many Australian fugitives hide out, before reports surfaced on Sunday that American agents had swooped on the gangster.
But the US crime bureau has since denied they were behind the sting operation.
Australia’s most wanted man Mark Buddle (pictured with partner Mel Terwisscha) fled the country in 2016 after being wanted in connection with several murders
Underworld boss Mark Buddle may have been rounded up at gun point by local police impersonating FBI agents in an effort to extort the Comanchero boss
‘It seems it’s local police that grabbed him who may be trying to either kick him out of the country or even shake him down,’ a law enforcement source told the Daily Telegraph.
‘He has been in Cyprus for a while but got involved in an altercation with local police a couple of months back and it made front page news in the region and brought a lot of attention to him, which hasn’t helped him.’
The source said it wasn’t uncommon in the region for police to abuse their power and believe Buddle is currently attempting to negotiate his way out of a Cyprus jail with local authorities.
Cypriot and Australian police are yet to comment on his custody.
Officials in Buddle’s home nation are desperately working to find an avenue to bring the Comanchero boss back to Australia.
But it’s now understood the arrest was more likely an attempt to extort money or convince him to leave Cyprus rather than a move that could see him extradited under international law.
Buddle is currently in a disputed territory that is claimed by both Cyprus and Turkey, which makes it even more challenging for Australian officials to intervene.
Mark Buddle (left) was a mentor to new Comanchero national president Allan Meehan (right) in Sydney
Buddle took over the leadership of the Comancheros when former boss Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi was jailed over a fatal brawl in Sydney Airport in 2009.
He fled Australia in 2016 for Dubai, where he set up a new life with his partner Melanie Ter Wisscha, after he became a person of interest in the 2010 murder of a security guard.
Last year, Buddle left Dubai soon after a video surfaced showing him fighting tourists at a resort pool.
Since then it is understood he has hopped between numerous countries such as Turkey, Greece and Iraq, before settling in Cyprus.
Buddle (right) fled Australia in 2015 for Dubai, where he set up a new life with his glamorous partner Melanie Ter Wisscha (left), after a security guard was fatally shot
The Sydney-born crime boss who grew up in a Maroubra housing commission estate before joining the Comanchero, has reportedly been living in Cyprus since mid-2021.
However, his stay has not been low-profile, as he made the front-page of the Cyprus newspaper Kibris Gercek last year.
The news outlet claimed Buddle decided to live in Northern Cyprus following meetings with high-ranking politicians, who granted him residency until August 6, 2022.
The reason given for the residency permit was because he would bring ‘high income to the country’.
The Bakirkoy Gazetesi claimed Buddle – said to be worth $100million – arrived on the island on a 30-day visa before he got a resident’s permit.
The newspaper article claimed Buddle was under the protection of a group of ‘business people’ in the north of Cyprus, as well as ‘official authorities’.
‘He hasn’t made any investments, but there are other developments with him…It is now certain that someone inside the state is protecting (him),’ the newspaper stated.
Buddle left Dubai after video emerged showing him fighting tourists at resort pool. He then hopped between numerous countries before settling in Cyprus
Sources recently said the exile life was taking a heavy toll on Buddle, with the Commander of the Australian arm of the Comancheros isolated from his daughters, who are believed to have been living away from him in Australia.
When Buddle fled Australia, he entrusted the Comanchero in Australia to national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed, national president Mick Murray and Sydney commander Alan Meehan.
In May, Zahed miraculously survived an assassination attempt at Bodyfit Gym in Auburn when he was shot multiple times as more than 20 bullets were fired.
He was rushed to hospital fighting for life and was taken into surgery with 10 bullet wounds to his head and body, with one bullet piercing straight through his eyeball.
His brother Omar, 39, was killed during the shooting.
With Zahed recovering from his injuries and Murray facing charges in Victoria, Meehan has been named Comanchero national president.
Meet the heavily tattooed underworld boss who has taken over as president of Australia’s most powerful bikie gang the Comancheros
BY KYLIE STEVENS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
A man who grew up in public housing and regularly attends church for Catholic mass has become Australia’s most powerful outlaw bikie boss.
The notorious Comancheros Sydney and Canberra chapter commander Allan Meehan was appointed as the new national president in Melbourne last month following months of turmoil.
He takes over from former Melbourne-based boss Mick Murray, who recently stepped aside over a murder charge.
Meehan, 35, grew up in public housing in Sydney’s south-west and has spent his half his life rising through the bikie gang ranks.
He joined the Rebels when he turned 18 and later became a Cronulla chapter president before he defected to the Comancheros.
Allan Meehan (right) is the new national president of the Comancheros. He’s pictured with former national president Mick Murray (centre) and national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed (left)
Sources claim he was lured to switch allegiances by mentor, Comanchero ‘commander of the world’ Mark Buddle, who is one of Australia’s most wanted men over the 2010 shooting of Armaguard security guard Gary Allibon in Sydney.
Meehan is well ‘respected’ among both the gang’s old guard and its new recruits.
‘He’s spent his entire adult life in bikie gangs,’ one source said. ‘He doesn’t know any other life.’
He was promoted to commander of the Canberra chapter early last year after the murder of former president Pitasoni Ulavalu and became the Sydney commander six months later.
It’s understood Meehan has told members he’ll oversee the Comancheros from Sydney but is expected to regularly travel to Melbourne.
Allan Meehan (pictured) has spent his half of his life progressing through the bikie gang ranks
He was regarded as next in line to take over from Murray, 44, was arrested in April over the 2019 gangland killing of Mitat Rasimi, an associate of high-profile drug lord Tony Mokbel
He was charged with one count of murder and remains behind bars.
It’s been a chaotic few months for Australia’s most powerful bikie club still reeling from the recent underworld shooting which left national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed with serious injuries and claimed the life of his brother Omar.
Dozens of other members have been also arrested in AFP raids as part of Operation Ironside, one of the biggest and most significant crackdowns of organised crime in Australia’s history.
One source recently said Meehan was regarded as ‘pretty full on’ but has a level head to control some of the gang’s more volatile elements.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk