| QUOTE |
| Five held over Mokbel escape Police have arrested five people today in relation to Tony Mokbel's audacious escape to Greece following raids in Melbourne's north and north-west. Purana gangland officers raided three addresses in Burnside and Reservoir around 6am as part of Operation Magnum and arrested a Reservoir man and two women from Burnside. Angela Nissirios, 46, of Burnside, and Bassillios Pantazis, 63, of Reservoir, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court this afternoon charged with perverting the course of justice, conspiring to pervert the course of justice, and assisting Mokbel to flee the country with the knowledge he was on bail for drug importation charges. Nissirios was also charged with dealing with proceeds of crime in relation to property valued at more than $50,000. Pantazis was charged with with trafficking and possessing methylamphetamine and dealing with more than $455,000, which was the proceeds of crime. The pair did not apply for bail. They were remanded in custody to reappear in court on September 25. Police are also questioning a 34-year-old Burnside woman at the St Kilda Road police complex. She is expected to face a bail justice later this evening. Two brothers aged 43 and 39 were this afternoon charged with perverting the course of justice, conspiracy to pervert and accessory after the fact. They are in custody at the Metropolitan Remand Centre and will face court at a later date. Yacht confiscation bid Also today, the Victorian Supreme Court issued a confiscation order on the yacht alleged to have transported Mokbel out of Australia while he was on bail in 2006. The 57-foot sloop - the Edwena - is now berthed in Greece, where it is up for sale with an estimated value of $A500,000. Tony McLean, acting for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told the court that nearly $1 million gained as proceeds of crime was spent getting Mokbel out of Melbourne and into Greece while he was on trial for drug charges in 2006. The order by Justice James Judd will now stop the boat being sold while criminal proceedings are taken against those accused of helping Mokbel flee the country. Police allege associates of Mokbel helped him buy a $500,000 yacht in Sydney and transport it across the country before it sailed from Geraldton, Western Australia, bound for Greece with the convicted drug smuggler secreted in hidden compartments. Cross-country expedition The 14-month operation targeted associates of Mokbel who allegedly used the proceeds of crime to assist Mokbel flee Australia while on bail facing charges of drug importation, police said. Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards, of the Victoria Police Purana taskforce, said police expected to arrest more of the 10 people believed to have helped Mokbel in his daring escape. He said up to 10 people were believed to be behind the plot and more arrests were expected in the coming weeks. "The boat was purchased for $350,000, there was (sic) modifications made to the boat which included desalination units, sleeping quarters ... we believe with payments made to certain people it (the plot) would be in the vicinity of a million dollars,'' he said today. In a plot worthy of a James Bond thriller, Purana ganglands detectives pieced together the movements of Mokbel from the time he jumped bail in Melbourne in 2006 until his arrest in Athens one year ago today. They know that he spent about six months hiding at an associate's modest country property at Bonnie Doon near Eildon while his associates helped organised his escape overseas. Police allege that his team bought the yacht in Newcastle, then had it shipped to Perth and finally to Geraldton - a distance of more than 4000 kilometres. The yacht was then refitted with giant fuel tanks and a self righting mast. Police allege Mokbel's associates secretly imported a crew of Greek seaman to sail the vessel from the WA coast to Greece - a distance of more than 12,000 kilometres. Detective Inspector Edwards said Mokbel left Australia on November 11, 2006, and arrived in Greece on Christmas Eve 2006. Mokbel was arrested in an Athens coffee shop on June 5 last year. After a protracted legal battle he was extradited back to Melbourne, arriving on a government leased luxury jet on May 17. http://www.theage.com.au/national/five-hel...80605-2m1o.html |