Security contractor denies alleged gangster was zip-tied during flight

A security contractor part of a $1 million operation to return an alleged Sydney crime boss to Australia denied the accused murderer was zip-tied during his extradition.

Former soldier Nathan Heckel told the Supreme Court Masood Zakaria was released from his restraints while on a flight in a hearing questioning the legality of his 2023 return to Sydney.

It comes as the case may have implications on similar prosecutions of an alleged ISIS terrorist and accused drug boss.

A former soldier at the centre of an alleged crime boss' contested extradition has denied zip-tying the man at the behest of Australian law enforcement.

Masood Zakaria, 31, is fighting to have two gangland murder charges thrown out in the Supreme Court, over claims he was illegally deported from Türkiye to Sydney in 2023.

Mr Zakaria's lawyers claim he was "kidnapped" by Skytraders and Hart International, which the Australian Federal Police (AFP) paid $1 million to complete the operation.

Former soldier Nathan Heckel was the lead security contractor from Hart on the flight that returned Mr Zakaria to Australia in December 2023.

Mr Heckel told the Supreme Court on Thursday that neither he nor any of the other five black-masked security personnel zip-tied Mr Zakaria on the plane.

The Hart team leader said the accused gangster was restrained with zip ties when Turkish authorities brought him onboard, but the restraints were later removed during the flight.

Whether or not Mr Zakaria was restrained on the flight is a key issue in his bid to have the charges dismissed.

His lawyers have questioned whether anyone other than Australian law enforcement had the power to physically hold him in custody on the flight.

Four days into the case, prosecutors admitted in court that Mr Zakaria had a legal right to remain in Türkiye when he was picked up by the AFP-paid contractors in Istanbul.

In challenging the legality of the operation, Mr Zakaria has sought to question senior law enforcement figures over their actions in returning him.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett was scheduled to give evidence, but on Tuesday the court heard she was no longer needed.

As was her predecessor Reece Kershaw, who similarly is no longer required to testify.

Mr Zakaria's unprecedented case also has implications for two other prosecutions involving an alleged ISIS terrorist and an accused drug trafficker.

The two men, who cannot be legally named, were also transported from Türkiye to Australia by the same flight charter company and security firm at the centre of Mr Zakaria's case.

Over the past three weeks, the case has explored the lengths the AFP went to in order to track down a highly-prized fugitive in Mr Zakaria and the two unnamed men.

Much of what senior AFP officers said cannot be reported for legal reasons, but AFP officers this week denied they pressured Türkiye to deport Mr Zakaria.

Their actions are under scrutiny amid the difficulties the AFP has faced in attempting to bring back offshore crime bosses from countries such as Türkiye, which have no extradition treaty with Australia.

Mr Zakaria was eventually deported after being apprehended by Turkish police in the seaside town of Bodrum, having spent a year on the run from Australian authorities.

NSW Police statements in the case claim Mr Zakaria slipped through their grasp a day after arrest warrants were issued, leaving the country on a fishing boat after being tipped off by a corrupt official.

Now behind the walls of Goulburn's Supermax prison, a bespectacled Mr Zakaria has sat in his video suite diligently watching the proceedings every day.

Should Mr Zakaria be successful in his bid for a permanent stay of proceedings, charges over his alleged role in the 2021 murders of Salim and Toufik Hamze could be dropped and he would likely walk free.

The hearings before Justice Edward Muston continue.