ATHENS Australia's most wanted fugitive is to be extradited from Athens, Greece's highest court ruled yesterday. Tony Mokbel, a convicted drugs smuggler, fled from Australia shortly before the end of his trial 2006, when he was sentenced to 12 years in jail for cocaine trafficking.

An international manhunt ended with his capture more than a year later, in June 2007, at a café in an Athens suburb. Mokbel, also known as Fat Tony, is also wanted in Australia on suspicion of ordering and paying for the murder of Lewis Moran, a rival crime boss, and another man. He denies any involvement.

The Greek court approved Mokbel's extradition to serve out his 12-year sentence, and also to stand trial on 15 other charges, including those related to the murders. The court ruled that five lesser charges - four related to drugs trafficking and one of perversion of justice - were not extraditable, which meant Mokbel could not be tried for those specific charges once he is in Australia.

Mokbel, who has been kept in detention since his arrest in June, had been living in Greece with his girlfriend, a daughter and another child.

Alexandros Likourezos, Mokbel's lawyer, said that he would still seek to prevent the extradition, adding: “We will exhaust all means that the law provides.”

Asked what he could do now given that his options in Greek courts had run out, Mr Likourezos said: “It is a question of imagination.” (Reuters)

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