OFF THE WIRE
BY: Mark Dunn
heraldsun.com.au
POLICE were led to a mansion, a private plane, a Ferrari and a $6 million Swiss bank account after an undercover cop shared impromptu drinks with an accused drug lord, court documents claim.
The Australian Federal Police operative had "a chance meeting" in a pub with Mohammed Charif Oueida on July 3 last year, material filed before the County Court shows.
It led to a $300,000 drugs sting and allegations that the unemployed Lebanese-born Mr Oueida was the "head of an organised crime syndicate involved in the large scale manufacture and trafficking of narcotics".
The AFP's asset confiscation unit sought court orders to examine and freeze:
A $2.8 MILLION house in Greenvale set on 4ha with an eight-hole golf course, swimming pool and tennis court.
A LIGHT aircraft.
A FERRARI 360 Spyder.
WESTPAC accounts and at least one family trust.
A FAWKNER property.
BUSINESSES including Trans-Orient Travel and In Q Properties.
An earlier court hearing was told Mr Oueida had links to a $6 million Swiss bank account and properties in Lebanon and Abu Dhabi.
When the AFP agent met Mr Oueida at a Geelong pub the officer was allegedly told the Comancheros biker gang was looking to open a chapter in Dandenong and that Mr Oueida could arrange for the agent to be "patched" as a gang member, County Court documents reveal.
Two undercover police allegedly met Mr Oueida in South Melbourne last August where Mr Oueida handed over a bag of 10,000 pills - for $6.50 each - which he allegedly said he had "pressed" himself.
In several other meetings police allegedly took delivery of almost 10,000 pills, and 227g of ice.
When the AFP raided Mr Oueida's property on April 7 they allegedly found a 357 Magnum pistol and a semi-automatic weapon with ammunition, an earlier Magistrates' Court hearing was told.
That hearing, in which Mr Oueida was refused bail, heard he was suspected of plotting to use his piloting skills to flee Australia and fly to Turkey, via the Maldives, in a chartered plane after his own light aircraft was identified in the drug sting.
Mr Oueida is now subject to 20-hour lockdown in Barwon Prison's high-security Melaleuca unit and was remanded to reappear on September 8.
The court heard he feared for his safety.
dunnm@heraldsun.com.au
