Fugitive restaurateur Mostafa Baluch spoke to associates on the app An0m of having access to $30 million in personal funds and taking control of the local cocaine market before he was arrested in June, police allege.
Mr Baluch, charged for his alleged role as the financier of an attempted 900 kilogram cocaine import from Ecuador, is seeking to flee Australia and is actively approaching underworld contacts to arrange escape routes, police say. Mr Baluch, whose family own restaurants on the northern beaches, was charged with eight offences in June, including conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug over the alleged cocaine shipment from Ecuador.He is alleged to have been the primary “shareholder” for the shipment, which had a potential street value of $270 million in Australia.
On June 1, he allegedly exchanged messages with another associate about the drugs, saying he had finished at the gym and was waiting for an accomplice to “release bricks [of cocaine] for distro”. The alleged syndicate being financed by Mr Baluch involved accused drug importer Mende Trajkoski, who came to the attention of authorities for gambling
The court’s decision to grant Mr Baluch bail on Thursday last week attracted criticism from NSW Police Minister David Elliott.