{"id":717188,"date":"2026-06-05T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/717188\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:32:10","slug":"lawyer-says-nsw-woman-ignorant-of-alleged-plot-to-smuggle-fugitive-qld-bikie-overseas-from-wa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/717188\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer says NSW woman ignorant of alleged plot to smuggle fugitive Qld bikie overseas from WA"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New South Wales woman embroiled in an alleged plot to smuggle fugitive Queensland bikie Dylan Cvek out of the country has been released on bail on a $100,000 surety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fatma Skaf, 40, was arrested on Monday morning while driving between Exmouth and Karratha, about 1,000km north of Perth in Western Australia’s remote North West.<\/p>\n

Her arrest came after officers from WA’s Joint Organised Crime Taskforce stopped a luxury yacht<\/a> 50km off the coast of Exmouth, with Mr Cvek and fellow Queenslanders Cass Williams and Jessica Beckett on board.<\/p>\n

Mr Cvek has since been extradited to Queensland to face multiple charges, while Ms Skaf, Ms Williams and Ms Beckett have all been charged with attempted people smuggling.<\/p>\n

It is the first time anyone in WA has been charged with the offence, with Ms Skaf facing the Karratha Magistrate’s Court today for an initial hearing.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

WA police intercepted a luxury yacht off the coast of Exmouth and arrested three people (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n

Free trip gone wrong<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged Ms Skaf drove Mr Cvek the 550km from Karratha to Exmouth, where she dropped him off at the local boat ramp in the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n

The court was told the 40-year-old woman travelled to WA expecting to have an “intimate relationship” with Mr Cvek.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel Adam Oswald said she had no idea the Queensland man was a fugitive, or had any knowledge of the alleged plot to spirit him out of the country.<\/p>\n

Instead, Mr Oswald said she had been drawn to WA by the promise of an all-expenses paid holiday.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The court heard Fatma Skaf thought she would have an intimate relationship with the alleged fugitive. (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Shaz Naidu told the court Ms Skaf had changed her story after her arrest, after initially telling police she was in the area for sightseeing.<\/p>\n

She later alleged she was punched in the sternum and taken to Exmouth under duress.<\/p>\n

Investigation in early stages<\/p>\n

Ms Naidu said the prosecution was in the early stages of collecting evidence, but was reviewing devices including a laptop found in Ms Skaf’s car believed to belong to Mr Cvek, and Ms Skaf’s phone.<\/p>\n

Setting Ms Skaf’s surety at $100,000, magistrate Cillian Stockdale told the court he was reassured by Ms Skaf’s lack of a criminal record and limited involvement in the alleged plot compared to her co-accused.<\/p>\n

“I do consider, on the basis of the evidence, it cannot be said to be a strong case,” Mr Stockdale said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Skaf’s bail came with multiple conditions, including not contacting any of the co-accused, nor coming within 100 metres of them.<\/p>\n

She is also prevented from leaving Australia and cannot come within 1 kilometre of an international airport, except for the purpose of returning to her home in NSW, where she will report to Bankstown Police Station twice a week.<\/p>\n

Thailand the final stop<\/p>\n

Police initially alleged the yacht was on its way to Indonesia, but the court heard today that Thailand was the plotters’ alleged final destination.<\/p>\n

The taskforce has been investigating the alleged scheme since last month, with investigations into the syndicate allegedly responsible ongoing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

WA police have charged a Queensland woman with attempted people smuggling. (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n

Mr Williams and Ms Beckett are due before Carnarvon Magistrate’s Court on June 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Skaf is due to face court again in Perth on July 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New South Wales woman embroiled in an alleged plot to smuggle fugitive Queensland bikie Dylan Cvek out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,347986,347983,347984,347985,347988,44,5847,204582,16802,246644,347987,45],"class_list":["post-717188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dylan-cvek","tag-exmouth-people-smuggling","tag-fatma-skaf","tag-karratha-magistrates-court","tag-luxury-yacht","tag-news","tag-nsw-news","tag-people-smuggling","tag-pilbara-news","tag-qld-news","tag-queensland-bikie","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}