3 arrested over Tony Mokbel's escape plot from Australia

June 5th 2008 Channel 9 news Escapee drug boss Tony Mokbel was smuggled out of Australia on a private yacht in an elaborate plot orchestrated by at least three associates, police say. Details of the daring 2006 escape have emerged as Melbourne's gangland detectives today closed the net on three people alleged to have helped Australia's most wanted man flee. "We're going to allege that these people assisted Mr Mokbel in certain ways to get him out of the country," Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards of the Purana Taskforce told ABC Radio. Mokbel was recaptured in Athens in June last year and extradited to Australia last month. Detective Inspector Edwards said the boat sailed from Sydney to Newcastle Harbour. "A few modifications were made on the boat, then the boat was transported by heavy haulage across the country to Fremantle harbour [in Western Australia]," he said. "The boat was sailed up to Geraldton and then across the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal and eventually landing in Greece." Detective Inspector Edwards said Mokbel left Australian shores on November 11, 2006, arriving in Greece on Christmas Eve. Three people were arrested in Melbourne today over their alleged involvement in the escape following dawn raids in Burnside and Reservoir. Police allege Mokbel spent about six months hiding at an associate's modest country property at Bonnie Doon, near Eildon, Victoria, before he was moved to Western Australia. A man and two women are alleged to have helped ...