Nick McKenzie, Joel Tozer and Fergus Hunter15:38, Jun 07 2021
Sydney Morning Herald
Some members of the Aussie Cartel: Hakan Ayik (centre), Mark Buddle (left) and Angelo Pandeli.
Australia’s most dangerous and wanted crime bosses have organised themselves into a cartel earning an estimated A$1.5 billion (NZ$1.6 billion) a year by smuggling drugs past the nation’s borders with the help of corrupt government officials and border insiders, the nation s peak criminal intelligence agency believes. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission says nine men, drawn mostly from Australian bikie gangs and Middle Eastern crime syndicates, make up what the agency has named the “Aussie Cartel”. The nine have been confidentially designated by the intelligence agency as Australian priority organisation targets after an assessment that they pose the gravest organised crime risk to the nation.
Nine men drawn from Australian bikie gangs, Asian triads and Middle Eastern crime syndicates make up what criminal intelligence authorities have called the ‘Aussie Cartel’.