Underworld figure Hakan Ayik unwittingly helped Operation Ironside, the AFP's biggest criminal sting

Police say Australian fugitive Hakan Ayik is a marked man after he inadvertently helped them distribute a messaging app that provided a window into international criminal activity.

The 42-year-old helped distribute an encrypted messaging app that police then used to bring down more than 220 alleged criminals in a three-year operation across 18 countries.

Police say the app, known as AN0M, was used internationally by more than 11,000 members of organised crime groups to plan executions, mass drug importations, and money laundering.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said Ayik's part in the operation — though unwitting — had made him "a wanted individual".

"He was one of the coordinators of this particular device. So, he's essentially set up his own colleagues," Commissioner Kershaw said.

"And my view would be the sooner he hands himself in … the better for him and his family."

Ayik fled Australian police in 2010 while in Hong Kong, allegedly in connection to a $230 million heroin importation bust.

According to reports, he currently lives in Turkey where he runs Istanbul's Kings Cross Hotel.

The AFP built a capability to access decrypted communications between customised mobile phones.

These phones were modified so they could not call or email and people could only communicate with someone else on the same platform.

The app was unwittingly distributed by Ayik after he was given a phone by undercover agents.

Ayik spread and even sold phones with the app via a black market to a wide net of criminal players.

Police said Ayik was chosen due to his high standing and trust in the criminal world after a career as a drug trafficker in the early 2000s.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.

Watch

Duration: 1 minute 46 seconds1m 46s

He was also targeted as an influencer as his connections extended to the Asian triads and the Comanchero bikie gang, according to a report by a News Corp national investigation.

Commissioner Kershaw said those arrested and charged as part of Operation Ironside were some of the most dangerous criminals [in] Australia who had been trafficking illicit drugs into the country "on an industrial scale".

In 2009 Ayik posted prolifically on his pages, showing his travels to Dubai, Turkey, Hong Kong, and using guns at a shooting range.

According to a Four Corners report in 2010 Ayik also posted images of himself with notorious Chinese triad member Mark Ho, who served time in an Australian prison for heroin trafficking in 2001.

A 2008 NSW Crime Commission intelligence report said Ayik was "not publicly a member of the Comanchero, but he has a lot of influence over what happens in the club while keeping a low profile".

Police have expressed concern Operation Ironside may unsettle criminal elements, with members unsure of who to trust and then turning on each other.

NSW Police have revealed this was one of the reasons why they turned Strike Force Raptor into a standalone squad earlier this year.

For Hakan Ayik, whose large network was used against him by police, fear of reprisal may well be front of mind.