Australia's most wanted man is 'captured' by the FBI: Fugitive Comanchero bikie boss Mark Buddle was 'arrested at border while returning to his Cyprus hideout' - after eight years on the run
- Australia's most wanted fugitive Mark Buddle reportedly arrested in Cyprus
- In the past week he met with an international Comanchero member in Germany
- It is understood Buddle was grabbed by FBI agents returning to Cyprus hideout
- The Comanchero bikie boss fled Australia for Dubai in 2016
- Since then he hopped between numerous countries before settling in Cyprus
Australia's most wanted man, Comanchero boss Mark Buddle, has reportedly been captured by the FBI while returning to his hideout on the Cyprus border.
The Comanchero 'world commander' recently left his latest safe haven in Cyprus to meet with a fellow international member of the gang in Germany.
He then travelled back via Turkey, an area where many Australian fugitives hide out, and FBI agents swooped as he tried to re-enter Cyprus, underworld sources said.
'Mark Buddle's been captured up. The boys knew about it hours ago,' one Sydney source told Daily Mail Australia.
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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.
Buddle fled Australia in 2016 for Dubai, where he set up a new life with his partner Melanie Ter Wisscha, after he came a person of interest in the 2010 murder of a security guard.
Last year, the 44-year-old 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 before settling in Cyprus.
The AFP have a live warrant for Buddle's arrest but police were unable to confirm whether he had been arrested by the FBI.
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 and has rarely been out of the local headlines, making the front-page of Cyprus newspaper Kibris Gercek last year.
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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 resident 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 report 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.
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 were believed to have been living away from him in Australia.
When Buddle fled Australia in 2016, 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 ten 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.
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.
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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.
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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