Fugitive Comanchero bikie boss Mark Buddle arrested at border returning to his Cyprus hideout

Australia’s most wanted man, Comanchero boss Mark Buddle, has been captured by the FBI while returning to his hideout on the Cyprus border. 

Daily Mail Australia understand Buddle was grabbed by agents near the Cyprus border. 

In the past week Buddle left his most recent safe haven in Cyprus, to meet with a fellow international member of the gang in Germany.

He then travelled back to Turkey, an area where many Australian fugitives hide out, when the FBI agents swooped as he tried to re-enter Cyprus. 

‘Mark Buddle’s been captured up. The boys knew about it hours ago,’ one underworld source told Daily Mail Australia. 

Buddle (right) fled Australia in 2010 for Dubai, where he set up a new life with his glam partner Melanie Ter Wisscha (left), after a security guard was fatally shot

Buddle took over the leadership of the Comancheros when former boss Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi was jailed over the fatal 2009 Sydney Airport brawl.

Buddle fled Australia in 2010 for Dubai, where he set up a new life with his glam partner Melanie Ter Wisscha, after a security guard was fatally shot.

Last year, the 44-year-old had to up and leave when video surfaced showing him fighting tourists at a resort pool. 

Since then it is understood he has hopped between numerous countries before settling in Cyprus.

The Sydney-born crime boss has reportedly been living in Cyprus since mid-2021.

However, he has been far from out of the headlines, making the front-page of Cyprus newspaper Kibris Gercek last year. 

The news outlet claimed Buddle organised to live in Northern Cyprus following meetings with high-ranking politicians, who granted him a residency until August 6, 2022.

The reason given for the resident permit was because he would bring ‘high income to the country’.

Buddle had to leave Dubai as video emerged showing him fighting tourists at resort pool. He then hopped between numerous countries before settling in Cyprus

Mark Buddle (left) was a mentor to Allan Meehan (right) in Sydney

The Bakirkoy Gazetesi claimed Buddle arrived on the island on a 30-day visa before he got a residence permit.

The newspaper article report claimed Buddle was under protection by a group of ‘business people’ in the north of Cyprus, as well as ‘official authorities’.

‘He hasn’t made any investments, but there are other developments with him…It is now certain that someone inside the state is protecting (him),’ the newspaper stated.  

Sources recently said the exile life was taking a heavy toll on Buddle, with the Commander of the Australian arm of the Comanchero’s isolated from his daughters, who were believed to have been living away from him.

Since Buddle has left Australia, Tarek Zahed, the sergeant of arms, was largely considered the figurehead of the Commanchero’s.

In May, Zahed miraculously survived an assassination attempt at Bodyfit Gym in Auburn when he was shot multiple times as more than 20 bullets were fired.

He was rushed to hospital fighting for life and was taken into surgery with ten bullet wounds to his head and body, with one bullet piercing straight through his eyeball.

His brother Omar, 39, was killed during the shooting.

Meet the heavily tattooed underworld boss who has taken over as president of Australia’s most powerful bikie gang the Comancheros

BY KYLIE STEVENS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A man who grew up in public housing and regularly attends church for Catholic mass has become Australia’s most powerful outlaw bikie boss.

The notorious Comancheros Sydney and Canberra chapter commander Allan Meehan was appointed as the new national president in Melbourne last month following months of turmoil.

He takes over from former Melbourne-based boss Mick Murray, who recently stepped aside over a murder charge.

Meehan, 35, grew up in public housing in Sydney’s south-west and has spent his half his life rising through the bikie gang ranks.

He joined the Rebels when he turned 18 and later became a Cronulla chapter president before he defected to the Comancheros.

Allan Meehan (right) is the new national president of the Comancheros. He’s pictured with former national president Mick Murray (centre) and national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed (left)

Sources claim he was lured to switch allegiances by mentor, Comanchero ‘commander of the world’ Mark Buddle, who is one of Australia’s most wanted men over the 2010 shooting of Armaguard security guard Gary Allibon in Sydney.

Meehan is well ‘respected’ among both the gang’s old guard and its new recruits. 

‘He’s spent his entire adult life in bikie gangs,’ one source said. ‘He doesn’t know any other life.’

He was promoted to commander of the Canberra chapter early last year after the murder of former president Pitasoni Ulavalu and became the Sydney commander six months later.

It’s understood Meehan has told members he’ll oversee the Comancheros from Sydney but is expected to regularly travel to Melbourne.

Allan Meehan (pictured) has spent his half of his life progressing through the bikie gang ranks

He was regarded as next in line to take over from Murray, 44, was arrested in April over the 2019 gangland killing of Mitat Rasimi, an associate of high-profile drug lord Tony Mokbel

He was charged with one count of murder and remains behind bars.

It’s been a chaotic few months for Australia’s most powerful bikie club still reeling from the recent underworld shooting which left national sergeant-at-arms Tarek Zahed with serious injuries and claimed the life of his brother Omar.

Dozens of other members have been also arrested in AFP raids as part of Operation Ironside, one of the biggest and most significant crackdowns of organised crime in Australia’s history.

One source recently said Meehan was regarded as ‘pretty full on’ but has a level head to control some of the gang’s more volatile elements.