An Australian drug kingpin who unwittingly gave police direct access to the criminal underworld by encouraging his colleagues to use the encrypted AN0M messaging app has abandoned his family to go into hiding.
Hakan Ayik, 42, remains Australia's most wanted man after fleeing Sydney for Turkey more than a decade ago when he was linked to a $230 million heroin importation syndicate.
He has now abandoned his glamorous Dutch wife Fleur Messelink, two young sons and home in the upmarket suburb of Bestikas in Istanbul for an undisclosed location.
Just three weeks ago, the Australian Federal Police outed him as a key figure in promoting AN0M to crime lords around the globe.
He was used as an 'influencer' to promote the app, which marketed itself as 'designed by criminals, for criminals' but was actually run by the FBI and circulated within the underworld by police informants.
Hakan Ayik (pictured) was tricked into distributing messages to criminal associates. Australian Federal Police have called for the suspected drug lord to hand himself in, but he reportedly has gone into hiding
Hakam Ayik has reportedly abandoned his wife Fleur Messelink (pictured), and their two children. The AFP has warned that Ayik's family could be in danger after the sting
In total, 25 million messages were sent on the app - all of which were intercepted by authorities.
So far, 283 people in Australia have been arrested as a result of the app's intelligence, and 1,100 globally.
Authorities warn Ayik is likely a marked man for his role in spruiking the app, effectively condemning his colleagues to potential decade-long jail sentences.
It is unlikely Ayik has left Turkey all together, News Corp reports, due to the international scrutiny he is under.
The Australian Federal Police would not comment on their intelligence about Ayik's whereabouts.
Pictured: Ayik and his wife Fleur Messelink at their wedding. He is thought to still be in Turkey
Australia's most wanted Hakan Ayik (pictured) was influential in spreading the AN0M app through his criminal networks, it has been claimed
AN0M messages, released by the US Department of Justice, show crime figures discussing a shipment of drugs which were to allegedly be thrown over a boat and then picked up
The AFP urged Ayik, who they allege still orchestrates huge shipments of cocaine and meth into Australia from his base in Turkey, to hand himself in.
'Given the threat he faces, he's best off handing himself into us as soon as he can,' Commissioner Kershaw said.
'He was one of the coordinators of this particular device, so he's essentially set up his own colleagues.'
Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University and a former senior policeman, said resentment against Ayik for inadvertently distributing the app 'would depend on individuals and how much blame they apportion to him'.
But he said it was unlikely Ayik would heed the advice of police and turn himself in.
The AFP urged Ayik, who they allege still orchestrates huge shipments of cocaine and methylampthetamine into Australia from his base in Turkey, to hand himself into authorities
Authorities sensationally carried out Australia's biggest ever organised crime bust on Tuesday
A tactical police officer guards a handcuffed arrested man during a raid. He was one of 224 people arrested as part of Operation Ironside
Mark Lauchs, Associate Professor of Criminology at Queensland University of Technology, said there was a real threat of Ayik being the victim of a future revenge attack.
'You've got to see them operating much more like the Real Housewives television show than a group of barristers sitting around discussing a case,' he said.
'Any secretive group like this is full of conspiracy theorists, they're constantly at each other. There is paranoia.
'Hakan Ayik isn't going to put on his social media, "I'm having a fight with one of the organised crime groups and I need someone to sort it out". He'll have to sort it out himself.'
Whether family members of Ayik and others still living in Australia were in danger was unclear, said the crime experts, but the 'ethics' of the criminal underworld may prevent them being targeted.
'There was a story of one Mafioso in Sicily who'd rolled over to the police and they started knocking off one family member after another until he finally came out of hiding,' Prof Lauchs recalled.
'They'd killed 35 of his family members before he showed up.
Police raid a property in Melbourne's Sydenham over a $1billion drug importation plot
Pictured: What the AN0M webpage looked like at the height of the investigation, compared to now
'In Australia if they were doing drive-bys and even endangering, let alone killing, family members, most of them would be like, "no way, you can't do that". Whereas overseas, they're dealing with a much more ruthless environment.
'The men who are involved in this activity have certain principles and ethics,' another professor said.
'One of those is that you don't mess with people's families, and means the likelihood of [families being targeted] is low, but not zero.
'I think we're in new territory and don't yet know the answer to what will happen.'
Professor Goldsworthy thought those who cooperated with Operation Ironside in return for reduced jail time were in most danger.
'We saw mention in the FBI affidavits of use of a confidential human source (CHS),' he said.
'The CHS would be someone who is now going to be in need of long-term protection, given the impact this operation is having on organised crime.'
The bust exposed new details about how one of Australia's most wanted fugitives gave police extensive access to the world's criminal
