It was an appropriately large homecoming for the Mr Big who had boasted before disappearing, ‘I don’t do small things.’ The nation’s most wanted man was very reluctantly being delivered back to the country he fled and on his own luxurious private jet funded by the public.
On the ground Australia’s biggest drug criminal and one of the country’s most senior lawmen came face to face.
The inspector discharged his legal duty and told the captured fugitive that while he was on the run a jury had found him guilty of drug offences. The inspector also detailed to the prisoner the crimes for which he was wanted and further offences now alleged against him.
It was a Saturday and the courts were closed. The inspector explained a bail justice would come out to the prison. The seriousness of the moment hung in the air as the two men – each respectively the personification of law and lawlessness – went through the motions. It was the formal procedure that could pave the way to a lifetime, and even death, in jail.
‘Because of these offences and the fact you breached bail when you fled, you will not be granted bail,’ the inspector said.
A thought registered on the prisoner’s face. Then the man who had rocked and embarrassed the legal establishment broke into a broad, toothy grin. ‘Won’t stop me applying though,’ he said.
When it was all over, when the last skerrick of his legendary luck had dried up, Tony Mokbel was still backing himself at long odds, still grinning, still believing he could take on the system and win.