March 15, 2025
Wife doesn't want anti-Semitic drug dealer, but how did AFP & court let him escape via Qld
A Sydney businessman who police allege was behind the fake "terror caravan" plot allegedly travelled to Queensland before fleeing the country.
Sayet Akca, 35, a former gym and kebab shop owner from the Sutherland shire, in Sydney, is the man police allege orchestrated the explosive-laden caravan found at Dural in January, and 14 other anti-Semitic crimes across the capital city since December.
Akca, who was on bail for an alleged 600kg drug importation, fled the country in mid-2023. His bail conditions allowed him to travel to Queensland, where it's believed he boarded a vessel which headed to Asia.
The now wanted man's former wife Georgia, with whom he has a son, said that was the end of their relationship.
"I am separated from (Akca) and no longer associated ... I want to emphasise that I have no involvement in the allegations," Georgia said.
The Courier-Mail does not suggest any wrongdoing by Georgia or any family members of Akca.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the federal government needed to act urgently to bring Akca home and ensure the Jewish community did not have to continue "living in fear".
"The Albanese government must pull out all stops to get Sayet Akca home to face justice," Mr Paterson said.
"The drugs charges he's facing are already serious enough the allegations he masterminded an anti-Semitic crime spree are even worse.
"Our intelligence and law enforcement capabilities must be deployed to find wherever he is so he can be extradited immediately."
Akca was granted bail by the NSW Local Court in March 2022 with his conditions varied more than a year later in May 2023, requiring him to hand in his passport but allowing him to travel interstate to Queensland.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge said the AFP needed to answer questions about how Akca got out of the country and show more "urgency" to bring him back.
"The AFP needs to explain what they did or didn't do in 2023 when they let him slip across the border," Mr Shoebridge said.
"Whatever urgency was missing in 2023, it needs to be found now and every reasonable effort made to get him before an Australian court.
"There are so many questions still unanswered about what happened, when it happened and especially when key agencies and politicians knew this was a scam.
"This is a bloke who could shed some light on the whole caravan mess and that's reason enough to get him back on shore."
One of the anti-Semitic firebombing attacks that made headlines was on the former home of Alex Ryvchin, cochief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, who said the "summer of terror" had been "devastating" for his community.
"The involvement of an apparently vast network of violent criminals that deliberately targeted the Jewish community in a devastating way, on top of over 2000 reported incidents, requires answers and requires justice," he said.