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An undercover operative and an informant say they've been abandoned by Australia
after helping fight organised crime

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OUT OF THE SHADOWS



By Mahmood Fazal, Amos Roberts and Meghna Bali



Four Corners

Published 2 Oct 2023, 10:30am

There’s an Australian sitting in a Hungarian prison.

Miles Mehta worked for years as a confidential source for Australian and
American law enforcement agencies, providing intelligence on drug kingpins and
international cartels.

“I was told to lie. I was told to cheat. I was told to steal,” he says.

The 33-year-old’s aware of the risks of speaking out as an informant, but says
he has nothing to lose.

“I’m already a dead man. I’m a walking corpse. I’m not going to come out of this
prison. And if I get to the United States, I’ll be killed on arrival.”

Miles believes the American agency he was introduced to by Australian law
enforcement has turned against him.

He’s been on the run for the last three years.

Now, the US wants him extradited.

“No-one likes a snitch. Whether it’s the crims or the government. Nobody.”



The work done in the shadows by confidential human sources and undercover
operatives is crucial to keeping the community safe, say senior law enforcement
officials. They secure critical evidence to bring down Australia’s organised
crime kingpins.

But the secrecy around this world means there’s little public scrutiny of how
these sources are managed.

When the big busts are over, some of these people say the authorities who rely
on them don’t keep the promises made along the way, leaving them abandoned.

“They don’t want the population to know what they do behind closed doors,” Miles
says.


PRIVATE SCHOOL TO PRISON

It wasn’t the usual path for a graduate of Sydney’s elite King’s School.

“I’m not supposed to be in this f***ing world,” Miles says.

“I f***ed up at 18. And here we are.”

Before his 19th birthday he used a stranger’s credit card to drive an $80,000
Audi off a dealership lot and was charged with 34 counts of fraud.

It was revealed in court Miles had previously been diagnosed with bipolar
disorder. He was sentenced to seven months in prison.



There, he says, his deep understanding of international finance and banking
earned him the respect of hardened criminals.

In 2010, soon after he got out of prison, he fled the country, running from more
fraud charges.

He’s lived in exile overseas ever since, using fake passports, and travelling
under aliases he created for himself including Marco Chicarella and Carlos
Jacobo Castro.



“I was involved in all sorts of frauds and money laundering related shit.

“I started to make friends with, and be introduced to, a lot of these
significantly higher-level underworld people.”

These connections placed Miles in the line of sight for Australian law
enforcement.




THE OFFER

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is a secretive agency
that gathers intelligence for law enforcement that leads to major drug busts and
brings down criminal syndicates.

It can offer human sources money or a letter of assistance to help with any
charges they face. For Miles, it was a promise from the ACIC to come home.

“Essentially, they went to my mother and they said, ‘We’re aware that your son
is involved with all sorts of people and does all sorts of things … we’d like to
speak to him, we think we can bring him back to Australia,’” Miles says.

In 2019 his time on the run entered a new high-stakes phase.

Miles began providing intelligence on the scale and destination of significant
drug hauls but lived in constant fear of having his cover blown.

He was gathering intelligence on Australia’s most wanted drug kingpins: Hakan
Ayik, Angelo Pandeli, Hakan Arif, and George Dib.



Throughout 2019 Miles regularly debriefed with his ACIC handlers – the officers
responsible for assessing the informant’s intelligence and keeping them safe –
in recorded phone calls.

> ACIC handler: What … did he give you? What was the detail?
> 
> Miles: All he told me was … ‘There’s a contract to pack a hundred kilos of
> rack. Could you move the cash?’ was the question.

At different points through the work Miles did, he’d be worried his cover was
blown.

> ACIC handler: Your cover’s solid. Because Dib backs you. Like that’s a massive
> backing. He’s f***ing staunch, he backs you totally.
> 
> Miles: Alright. You sure there’s no leaks in your agency?

According to Miles, at one point his ACIC handlers told his parents he’d be home
by Christmas. But he says the more they learned about the circles he was moving
in, they moved the goalposts.

One disclosure made Miles even more valuable to authorities.

He told his handlers he’d done time in a London prison with a man allegedly
linked to one of the world’s most notorious narco-terrorists — Dawood Ibrahim.



“They came back to me very, very quickly, very quickly. ‘We want a couple of our
friends of ours from United States to have a word with you. This is of
significant interest to the United States.’”

Miles was soon juggling a second high stakes assignment. Public US court
documents show in April 2019 he began working for America’s Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA).

“He did work on operations with the DEA overseas travelling hundreds of
thousands of miles,” the documents said.


ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

For six months Miles collected evidence on transnational drug trafficking. He
says the DEA promised to help him get permanent residency in the US. It never
happened.

He arrived in New York in late 2019 exhausted and experiencing manic episodes.
Within a month he committed another fraud to secure a credit card.

Lawyer Ilene Jaroslaw, who defended Miles, says he wrote and cashed a cheque for
$500,000 from an account with only a few thousand dollars in it.

“He wrote [the cheque] no less in purple highlighter. It’s bizarre,” she says.

Ilene believes he was experiencing a manic episode.



Miles ended up stealing more than $116,000 of the available funds.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of bank fraud. The DEA dropped him as a source.

Ilene was a federal prosecutor for 20 years, and worked with many human sources,
as well as law enforcement agencies including the DEA.

She was shocked that Miles’s service didn’t seem to count for anything when he
was sentenced over the fraud charge.

“He felt very betrayed, that he had taken great personal risk in assisting in
building important narcotics cases.

“They just cut him loose.

“I think he genuinely thought his life was in danger.”

Fearing his work for the DEA would get him killed in prison, Miles fled the
country.

Even though he was on the run from the Americans, the Australian officers who
introduced him to the DEA continued using him as a source.

> ACIC handler: Let me know when you are safe
> 
> Miles: Leaving for airport in about 20



We have no evidence that his handlers helped him escape the US, but they cheered
the fugitive on as he crossed international borders.

> Miles: Immigration clear
> 
> 😎😎😎
> 
> ACIC handler: 👌😎
> 
> Miles: Insane
> 
> Legit
> 
> ACIC handler: 😉
> 
> I got you
> 
> Miles: 👑 👑 👑 👑
> 
> Fml
> 
> I’m back #loungelife

Messages reveal the pressure of the job would often be too much for Miles. In
one instance, when he tried to step away, the ACIC lured him back with a big
promise.

A handler suggested that the Australian attorney-general could potentially
protect him from extradition to the US.

“I have been in high level meetings this week and we have executive support at
the highest level what that looks like ie think an AG – written guarantee is
possible,” a handler wrote in a message.

We have no evidence the attorney-general was told about or responded to these
promises.

A handler also told him an Interpol “red notice” — which declared him a fugitive
— could be taken care of.

Watch Four Corners’ never-before-seen dive into the dark underbelly of crime
fighting on ABC TV and ABC iview from 8:30pm.



The stakes for Miles would get even higher.

An associate of Miles threatened his former DEA handler’s life. Miles alerted
the ACIC. When the DEA handler heard the news he decided to contact the man who
made the threat – Miles claims that left him exposed.

He feared his cover had been blown.

“That information came from me. The DEA went and leaked it to the f***ing
source,” Miles told his handler on a call.

“Can you understand the risk to my life that comes from this shit?”

His handler said the situation was “absurd”.

“Your intentions are, have been very forthright, protecting the life of this
officer, and then they’ve gone and deliberately done actions which endangers
yours. I can’t believe it.”

The next day Miles’s other handler made his feelings about the DEA clear.

“They’re just f***ing with you, like they’re c***s. No question. They’re c***s.

“This is run of the mill. Like this is standard DEA … It’s completely acceptable
to them. They don’t view you as a person like us, they view you differently.”

The ACIC continued to use Miles as a source for another eight months, then cut
him loose. They never told him why.

“We have been directed not to have further contact with you as you are no longer
on our books, deregistered,” a handler wrote.

“Appreciate the work we had done. Take care.”



Two years later, after three years on the run from the Americans, the day Miles
was dreading came.

Police stormed his Budapest apartment early one afternoon.

Once again, he was behind bars.

The ACIC didn’t respond to questions.

The DEA also declined to comment, but the handler whose life was threatened
claimed he didn’t know the tip came from Miles and denied blowing his cover.


MILES’S PLEA

Miles is now fighting extradition to the US, where in his absence, a court
sentenced him to 37 months.

He fears that, with his cover blown, returning to a US prison would be a death
sentence.

Miles says that’s why he’s stepping out of the shadows to tell his story.

“I would like to be extradited or deported or whatever it may be to Australia.
It is time for me to go before a court. It is time for me to pay for my crimes,
whatever they might be.

“Bring me home.”



Miles, who’s been imprisoned in nine different countries including for multiple
fraud charges, says the work he’s done for the agencies was to repay his debt to
society, and to prove to his mother and father that he’s not a bad person.

“That child that stole credit cards and ran around like a fool is not me. I
wanted to convince just those few, the last people in my life who believed in
me, that there was something to believe in.”

Miles says his case shows how people like him are used and discarded.

“I want the Australian government to know that we’re cannon fodder. That they
look for people like us, people that they can throw under the bus, people that
they can discredit, people that they can just destroy with a click of their
fingers.

“And when you’re done with us — throw us away.”

His message to other human sources is blunt.

“I want you all to know they don’t keep their promises.”


A HANDLER’S ‘NECESSARY EVIL’

John Buckley says a properly trained officer shouldn’t make the kinds of
assurances Miles alleges ACIC and the DEA did.



“You are not in a position to promise something … that you cannot guarantee you
will give.”

He has 28 years of experience in counter terrorism and intelligence gathering
and advises law enforcement agencies around the world.

“Certainly the professionals that I work with would not be saying that, I’d be
absolutely stunned if they would say that.”

He says the ACIC has a reputation for professionalism.

“When it comes to managing human sources, the United States of America is 20
years behind Australia.”

“Brad”, a senior law enforcement official, has managed human sources and
undercover operatives for decades.

Four Corners can’t reveal his identity, but he’s an experienced handler.

“I know sources that have definitely got in some really hairy situations where
their life’s being threatened and like they’re seconds from being killed.”

He says some work with law enforcement out of revenge, or to take out their
competition. Others are looking for a way out of the life.

“Some believe that they’re going to be coming into great wads of cash — they can
be paid thousands, even hundreds of thousands, at the highest levels of
organised crime.

“And some just want to balance the books. They’ve done so much bad in their life
they want to tip the scales in the other direction.”



Sources can be offered a “letter of assistance” from authorities to use in
court. Depending on the risk they took and the usefulness of their work, a judge
can decide on a reduced prison sentence.

The heartbreak, for Brad, is putting a source and their family into witness
protection when an operation ends.

“To see these families moved a number of steps back from the life they’ve been
living, it’s never luxurious. They’re almost disappearing.

“I’ve driven away from them. I still remember every one of those days. It’s
almost like someone died.

“This is an unpopular opinion but I’d rather go to jail for a couple of years
than go to witsec (witness security program) for 10.”

It’s the part of his job he feels guilty about, the “necessary evil”.

“I’ve had sources who have been providing information from inside organised
crime for as long as 14 years.

“They’re the key weapon against organised crime.”


‘YOU’RE ABANDONED’

The work “X” did in the fight against organised crime has scarred him.

Unlike Miles who was a human source, a criminal reporting from the inside of
organised crime syndicates, X was an undercover operative who infiltrated
criminal groups as part of a law enforcement strategy.

“We’re just trying to get through day by day without getting a bullet in my head
or beaten up or tortured or have something happen to my family.”



His work involved going undercover in these groups, a playbook used in many
operations.

Gaining access to the people in this shadow world would often involve “the
bump”.

“You bump into people and become their friend. Restaurants, bars and nightclubs,
hang around, splash a lot of cash, and then become friends. Make yourself look
appealing.

“Sometimes you’re acting like a concierge service.

“They’ve got plenty of money and all of a sudden you can give them things that
they don’t have access to.”

In some police operations, law enforcement are given the power to break the law
in order to catch criminals.

X says they would turn a blind eye to small drug shipments so they could catch
commercial loads.

“If it’s a couple kilos here and there, they have to let it.

“There is this massive grey area and that’s the area we’re working within.
That’s not what people want to hear. They want to think there’s hard and fast
rules, protocols, procedures. But the reality is life’s not like that. Life’s
not black and white.”

X’s work helped bring down organised crime figures.

The threat to his life was imminent. He’s been looking over his shoulder since.

“The day you stop, everything changes.



“You’re basically imprisoned like the people that you helped put behind bars.

“What my expectations were versus what was delivered to me in terms of the
sacrifices that I made were vastly different.

“There’s so much secrecy around what we do that people don’t even realise the
sacrifices we’ve made.”

His relationship didn’t survive. His whole family suffered.

At his very lowest he attempted suicide.


IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW NEEDS HELP:

 * Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
 * Lifeline on 13 11 14
 * Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line 13YARN on 13 92 76
 * Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
 * Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
 * Headspace on 1800 650 890
 * ReachOut at au.reachout.com
 * MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978

X says he doesn’t want a medal, or a handshake from the prime minister, he just
wants to live a normal life.

“You would think they would be there to help you on the next part of your
journey.

“Basically, once things are completely done, you’re forgotten about, you’re
abandoned, you’re abandoned by the government, you’re abandoned by the people
you trusted.”

Watch the full Four Corners investigation ‘Undercover’ on ABC TV and ABC
iview from 8:30pm.

Subscribe to the Four Corners newsletter and follow Four Corners on Facebook.


CREDITS:

Story by: Mahmood Fazal, Amos Roberts and Meghna Bali

Photography: Amos Roberts

Digital production and design: Nick Wiggins

Odyssey format by ABC News Story Lab

1 / 14


The 33-year-old has worked for Australian and American law enforcement agencies.
Four Corners

Miles' early run-ins with the law made headlines. Four Corners

Miles jetted around the world for years after fleeing Australia. Supplied

Miles has lived in exile overseas ever since, under several different names.

A man Miles met while serving time in a London prison made him valuable to
authorities. Four Corners

Miles was charged with bank fraud in New York. Supplied/Four Corners

As Miles travelled the world, on the run, ACIC kept using him as a source. Four
Corners

Miles was told the Interpol notice declaring him a fugitive could be taken care
of. Four Corners

The prison where Miles is being held. Four Corners

John Buckley is a leading expert in law enforcement's management of human
sources. Four Corners

Brad says some sources are looking for a way out, others are seeking revenge.
Four Corners

X's work took him deep into the shadow world of organised crime. Four Corners

X feels abandoned by those he trusted. Four Corners

Miles Mehta is fighting extradition from a jail in Hungary. Four Corners/Nick
Wiggins


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