Tony Mokbel Declared Free After Final Drug Charge Withdrawn
Notorious gangland figure Tony Mokbel has been declared a free man by a Melbourne court, marking the end of a dramatic legal saga spanning nearly two decades. Prosecutors withdrew his last remaining drug trafficking charge on Friday, allowing the sixty-year-old to walk from the Supreme Court steps as a free individual.
Mokbel, known as "Fat Tony" during Melbourne's infamous underworld era, expressed his relief to waiting media. "It feels really nice, and life goes on now," he stated, adding that freedom felt "beautiful" after his lengthy period behind bars. The gangland survivor even mentioned his desire to travel overseas legally, provided his destination country would accept a convicted drug dealer.
The Great Escape to Greece via Western Australia
Mokbel's path to freedom began with his spectacular escape from Australian justice in 2006. Facing serious cocaine trafficking charges that threatened a lengthy prison sentence, the forty-year-old gangland boss skipped bail and disappeared from Victoria.
He initially hid for eight months in Bonnie Doon, the sleepy Victorian town immortalised in the iconic Australian film The Castle. While enjoying the "serenity" of the rural location, Mokbel plotted an elaborate escape plan with assistance from his criminal associates.
The escape operation involved meticulous planning and significant expenditure:
- Mokbel hired Greek sailors and purchased a seventeen-metre motor yacht called The Edwena for approximately $350,000
- The vessel was sailed to Newcastle before being transported overland to Fremantle on a wide-load truck
- The six-day journey across New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia required pilot cars and daylight-only travel
- Once in Perth, the Greek crew spent around $70,000 fitting out the yacht for its transoceanic voyage
Police believe associates smuggled Mokbel across the country in hired vehicles before loading him onto the yacht somewhere along the Western Australian coast between Perth and Geraldton. The Edwena then embarked on its 11,700-kilometre journey to Greece via the Maldives and Suez Canal.
Capture, Extradition and Legal Battles
Mokbel's freedom proved short-lived after his arrival in Greece. Greek police, acting on Australian intelligence, captured him at an Athens seaside restaurant just over five months later in June 2007. Despite wearing an ill-fitting wig and using an alias, he confirmed his true identity during a staged immigration check.
His extradition cost Australian taxpayers approximately $450,000 and took nearly a year to complete. Upon returning to Australia in May 2008, Mokbel began serving a twelve-year sentence for cocaine importation. His situation appeared bleak when he received a thirty-year total sentence in 2012 after pleading guilty to three serious drug-related cases.
A legal lifeline emerged with revelations about his lawyer:
- Mokbel discovered his long-time lawyer Nicola Gobbo had been a police informant against him
- He argued this compromised his convictions, launching a decade-long legal battle
- The Court of Appeal ultimately quashed convictions in two of his three cases
- He was re-sentenced to thirteen years, seven months and fifteen days for the remaining Magnum case
The Magnum case centred on Mokbel's drug empire, known as The Company, which operated large-scale methylamphetamine manufacturing and distribution in 2006 and 2007 while he lived in Greece.
Final Chapter and Reflections
Prosecutor David Glynn announced the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision not to proceed with a retrial on Mokbel's final charge, known as the Orbital brief. This case involved alleged incitement to import one hundred kilograms of MDMA into Australia in 2005.
The DPP cited several factors in their decision, including Mokbel's conviction prospects, public interest considerations, time already served, his age and health, and the age of the alleged offending. They noted no drugs were actually imported in this particular case.
Born in Kuwait to Lebanese parents in 1965, Mokbel migrated to Australia at age eight and grew up in poverty in Melbourne's northern suburbs. He began working at his brother's pizza shop as a teenager but rose rapidly to head a multimillion-dollar drug empire within six years, effectively sparking Melbourne's gangland conflict era.
When asked about regrets, Mokbel stated he didn't regret anything but called jail his "biggest mistake in life." He declined to comment on whether he would seek compensation from the State of Victoria.
Two men who assisted Mokbel's escape to Greece in 2006, George Elias and Chaffic Issa, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and received eight-year sentences despite taking their fight to the High Court. Meanwhile, The Edwena yacht, seized in Greece by Australian Customs and later sold, reportedly featured recently in a documentary about a Greek chef's global sailing mission.
