New Zealand police confirm Kiwi-born Comancheros ‘Supreme Commander’ Duax Ngakuru arrested in Turkey

Duax Hohepa Ngakuru was born in Rotorua and rose to the top of the Australian Comancheros gang. Photo / Daily Telegraph

New Zealand police today confirmed a Kiwi-born bikie gang boss alleged to be masterminding a global drug empire has been arrested in Turkey.

NZ authorities are awaiting further decisions from the Turkish Government to determine the next steps for Duax “Dax” Hohepa Ngakuru’s return to New Zealand, police said.

This month it was reported that Ngakuru, who was born in Rotorua, had become the new “Supreme Commander” of the now-worldwide Comanchero motorcycle club.

Ngakuru grew up in Sydney where he rose through the ranks of the Comancheros during violent turf wars with ruthless rival gangs.

The Daily Mail had earlier reported that Australian police were making contact with Turkish authorities to confirm Ngakuru’s arrest.

Senior New Zealand police officers have also been in talks with Turkish counterparts, trying to get them to send the gang kingpin back to his homeland to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.

Ngakuru also goes by several aliases, including Negotiator, Bullseye, Chuck Norris and El Mito (The Myth).

He’s accused of being behind some of the world’s biggest drug deals and is reportedly controlling business from Turkey, with an estimated wealth of more than $100 million.

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph earlier obtained the first known images of Ngakuru in 10 years, showing him living abroad, with one photo showing him sprawled across the stern of a superyacht that is flying a large Turkish flag.

Another picture shows him with his wife Reynee in the back of a car, while another has Ngakuru at dinner with close friend Hakan “Big Hux” Ayik, the “Facebook gangster” who fled Sydney while on bail in 2010 and is also wanted by the FBI, and ex-gang president Mahmoud “Mick” Hawi who was shot dead by masked assassins in Sydney in 2018.

Ngakuru has been directing “senior members” of the Comancheros in both Dubai and Australia, a source told the Daily Telegraph.

But after his predecessor Mark Buddle’s capture, when he was deported from Northern Cyprus to Turkey and then to Australia last August, it’s believed that Ngakuru may no longer feel Turkey is such a safe haven to operate from.

It’s alleged that Ngakuru has also been based in Thailand to act as a fixer, or “super-facilitator”, between the Comancheros and Asian organised crime syndicates.

Intelligence reports handed to New Zealand Police tell of transnational drug syndicates using super-facilitators to foster a successful methamphetamine supply chain.

“A super-facilitator has links to a global network of manufacturers and supply and distribution chains to successfully import methamphetamine to New Zealand,” says a police report, Methamphetamine in New Zealand: What is currently known about the harm it causes, which was circulated last year.

“The super-facilitator is usually based offshore and is never in direct contact with the shipment.”