Turkish authorities recently apprehended Hakan Ayik, a notorious gang leader and alleged drug importer, who had earned the moniker of “Australia’s most wanted man.” During the operation, they confiscated 23 luxury rides. Now, they’ve turned each of them into a police cruiser including a Ferrari, a Bentley, and a Porsche Taycan. To make the grand reveal even more sensational, the authorities produced a dramatic promotional video, showcasing these luxurious police cars with a combined value of $3.5 million.
Turkey’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, shared the hype video on his personal social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with a detailed post addressing the situation. In his post, he states (according to Google Translate), “23 vehicles were seized as a result of the successful operations conducted by our Istanbul Police Department against organized crime organizations. Following the court decision, these vehicles were handed over to our police.”
Read: Turkish President Asks Elon Musk To Build A Tesla Factory In His Country
Photos Ali Yerlikaya
While there’s no extensive list of the cars he’s mentioning, the video shows off a few very specific luxury cars that are easy to identify. A Ferrari 488 sits proudly in the center of the group next to a Bentley Continental, a Porsche Taycan, and an Audi RS6. These four cars alone are worth over $1 million U.S. and possibly, a whole lot more in Turkey due to its high tax rates. That’s to say nothing of the other vehicles on display including a number of Mercedes-Benzs, Range Rovers, and Volvos.
According to the Daily Telegraph, all of these cars are the result of arresting Hakan Ayik, an alleged drug trafficker out of Sydney, Australia. He reportedly led a bike gang there called the Comanchero. He left the country in 2010 and has been wanted ever since. The NYPost reports that during his arrest in Turkey, authorities captured 37 people in total and roughly $250 million in assets.
In case it wasn’t already abundantly obvious that running from the police was a bad idea, this should discourage the practice even further. Not only would you be upsetting Turkish authorities, but now, attempting to outrun them just got a whole lot more challenging. Of course, there’s no telling if anyone on the traffic beat there has the skills to drive something like a Ferrari 488 at high speed.