The Hells Angels are preparing to take over Australia's wholesale international drug trade after the arrest of Comanchero kingpin Hakan Ayik in Turkey.
Ayik was nabbed in Istanbul accused of running an "armed organised crime" network.
From his hideout in the hills above the Bosphorus Strait, Ayik was calling the shots on a significant share of Australia's $10bn annual drug trade.
He was the head of the "Aussie Cartel" which was co-ordinating the shipment of tonnes of drugs from South America and Asia's Golden Triangle.
Ayik was one of 37 people arrested in Turkey earlier this month, allegedly with links to the Comanchero.
The Turkish police sting has opened up a power vacuum in Australia's drug trade that the Hells Angels, who already have a footprint in Asia, plan to exploit.
Senator James Paterson said Ayik's arrest was a "significant development" but warned that the fight was not over.
"This is a multi-billion dollar industry, there will be many others willing to step up in their places," the federal opposition home affairs spokesman, said.
"And although this will disrupt the trade for a little while, it might not be very long before it resumes what it once was. So it really is a constant battle for our law enforcement to make sure that we are catching and disrupting and causing damage to this business model as often as we can ." Now that Turkey is no longer a safe haven for those accused of Australian crimes, they are looking for others.
"What they look for is countries that don't have extradition treaties with Australia or our allies, or no history of enforcing the extradition treaties that they have," Senator Paterson said.
"They look for a permissive environment, environments with high levels of corruption so they can pay off officials, including politicians, to allow them to continue to operate safely.
"And they look for hubs which are safe and secure for them personally, where there's not other criminal gangs operating there who won't welcome them on their turf." Mexico has become a likely target for the Hells Angels and the other remaining key figures in the Comanchero world who avoided capture in Turkey. It has an extradition treaty with Australia but it's an easy place to evade detection.
Melbourne man Anthony Philip Sitar has been on the run in Mexico since he fled Australia in 2011 on the day he was about to be arrested over a $300m cocaine shipment hidden in beer. He is now suspected of being a key broker between Australian branches of the Comanchero and Lone Wolf bikie gangs and the notorious CJNG cartel.
The bloodthirsty cartel has been blamed for the deaths of dozens of police officers in Mexico in the Jalisco region where it controls the cocaine, ice and fentanyl trade.
Sitar had been staying in the Pacific resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
The ascension of the Hells Angels following the Comanchero sting makes him a likely conduit for drugs being shipped to Australia.
Australian Border Force members found 154kg of cocaine on a ship that arrived in the Port of Melbourne from South America on October 7, it was revealed this week.
Specialist divers were needed to retrieve the drugs from a hidden "parasite" compartment attached to the hull of the ship.
Those drugs, with a street value of $61m, were supplied by the CJNG. It is not suggested that Sitar was involved in that shipment, only that he has links with both the CJNG and Australian bikie gangs.
Ayik was on the run for more than a decade, with the Australian Federal Police chasing him over his links to a $230m heroin importation in 2010.
Ayik will not be extradited to Australia because he renounced his citizenship while in Turkey, where he also has a passport.
He was suspected to have been under surveillance for at least six months before he was arrested.
Ayik had cemented himself even further as the kingpin for the Comanchero following the extradition of Sydney leader Mark Buddle from Turkey in August last year, accused of importing $40m worth of cocaine into Australia. He denies the allegations.
The AFP has long had the Hells Angels on its radar. The gang was pushed out of Thailand by police there amid concerns members were using the country as a base for their drug-running empire. The beachside Pattaya region, known for its sex trade, was a favourite haunt, with a chapter established there in 2016.
The Hells Angels moved some of their Asian operations to Cambodia as a result of the Thai crackdown.
But they are still one of the world's most connected criminal enterprises.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan played a key role in Ayik's arrest. He previously revealed how the Hells Angels were operating in Asia, alongside the Comanchero, Lone Wolf and Bandidos gangs.
The Hells Angels have a major footprint in Australia, which would allow them to move drugs across the country once they have landed from South America.
They have also enforced their power with violence and are still the most-feared bikie gang in the world.
Now the question is how much blood will be spilled as the Hells Angels try to unseat the Comanchero from their position of power across the globe and in Australia.
