A mining businessman turned fugitive who fled Queensland after allegedly plotting to import $20m of cocaine has been captured in the Philippines after two years on the run.

MELANIE PLANE reports.

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YOU can run, but you can't hide forever.

That is message Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan has for any would-be fugitives following the arrest of notorious Australian alleged drug syndicate leader Markis Scott Turner.

The millionaire Mackay mining businessman has been on the Australian Federal Police's 'most wanted' list after disappearing in 2015.

His family said he committed suicide but the AFP doubted those claims and continued their investigation.

Mr Turner, a father of two and sole director of local mining business CQE Materials and Handling Pty Ltd, was facing charges associated with an alleged conspiracy to import more than 71 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia in 2011.

On May 27, 2011, after a two-year AFP investigation, Mr Turner was arrested along with Columbian nationals Alexis Giovany Gomez Ruiz, Juan Pablo Ocampo Alvarez and German Rendon Alvarez in Mackay.

On the night of their arrest, investigators seized 600 barrels of hydraulic oil, of which 17 barrels allegedly contained 71.6kg of cocaine which had been imported from South America to Melbourne before being ferried to Brisbane and then to Mackay via rail.

When Mr Turner disappeared in August 2015 while on bail and failed to show up for his trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court, an arrest warrant was issued and subsequently, property and cash totalling $395,000 (which was provided to secure his bail) was forfeited to the court.

Markis Scott Turner was arrested in the Philippines. Northbound Philippines News Onli

The AFP had been looking for him since but on September 15, the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) International Operations Division operatives had a breakthrough.

They arrested Mr Turner in Samal, Davao del Norte. Local media reported he had been living in the tropical island paradise, which is known as the 'banana capital of the Philippines', under the alias Filip Novak.

The AFP said a two-year international operation had resulted in the arrest of 44-year-old Mr Turner for the purpose of extradition to Australia to face the 2011 drug importation charges.

Over the weekend the AFP told The Daily Mercury that when Mr Turner was located in the Philippines, action was taken with the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to secure his urgent arrest for the purposes of extradition.

Mr Turner's provisional arrest was sought through the Philippines' Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), pursuant to the Philippines-Australia extradition treaty.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the location and arrest of Mr Turner was a testament to the AFP's strong global network and policing partnerships across South East Asia.

"We greatly value the assistance provided by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in this matter," Assistant Commissioner Gaughan said.

"Our liaison officers have worked closely with the NBI to confirm the location of the man and were permitted to be present when the man was finally arrested.

"This arrest sends a strong message to would-be fugitives - our reach across the globe is second to none and we will use all our contacts and relationships to find you and bring you before a court."

The matter is now before Philippine authorities, with Philippines NBI Director Dante Gierran commenting Turner had been hiding in the island oasis to evade prosecution.

The AFP were not able to provide further details about when Mr Turner would be extradited to Australia or when he would appear before a court.

His arrest comes after his mother Elizabeth Turner lost her Court of Appeal bid in May this year in regards to paying $315,000 worth of outstanding bail surety she pledged when Mr Turner was released on bail back in 2011.

Mackay's Elizabeth Turner leaving court. Courier Mail

Mrs Turner claimed her son had killed himself and appealed on the grounds her son did not receive the original notice to appear in court in November 2015 and as a result she was not liable to hand over the owed money. The Court of Appeal found a notice to appear had been served to Mr Turner's bail address and by law, that was enough.

It also found Mr Turner, by absconding, had contributing to "wasted costs and wasted time" in the already overburdened justice system.

A panel of three judges dismissed the appeal and Mrs Turner was ordered to pay the $315,000 to the state or incur a penalty of 12 months behind bars.

AFP swoops on Turner in Mackay

THE claims involving respected businessman Markis Scott Turner's alleged $20 million drug syndicate made headlines across the country in May 2011.

Markis Turner. Photo Ross Irby / Daily Mercury Ross Irby

On the night of May 27, 2011 the then 38-year-old businessman, who was the sole director of CQE Materials and Handling Pty Ltd, was arrested in Mackay along with three Colombian-born men after an 18-month long international Australian Federal Police investigation.

Between the four of them, they faced a total of 36 charges.

Investigators seized 600 barrels of hydraulic oil, of which 17 barrels allegedly contained 71.6kg of cocaine. The AFP alleged the cocaine was sent from South America to Melbourne before being ferried to Brisbane and eventually brought into Mackay via rail where they were seized at the railway yards.

During court proceedings, Crown prosecutor Glen Rice told Brisbane Supreme Court that Mr Turner was the alleged drug syndicate leader who used his mining business as a front to import the oil.

Mr Rice said the oil contained elements of cocaine and German Rendon Alvarez had planned to extract the cocaine using a chemical process once it reached Australia.

It was also alleged a house at Seaforth had been set up with the needed chemicals for the operation, which allegedly occurred between 2009 and 2011. Buyers in Melbourne had arranged to buy the cocaine for about $160-165,000 per kilogram.

A Map of the route taken to import cocaine into the Mackay region

How it unfolded:

2009: Australian Federal Police start surveillance of Mackay father-of-two Markis Scott Turner. They tap his phone, plant a listening device in his home and car and monitor emails. During this time, Mr Turner allegedly had two overseas bank accounts in Singapore and Malaysia and sent $36,000 to Panama and Colombia.

2009-2011: A home in Seaforth is allegedly set up by Mr Turner with chemicals and he allegedly strikes a deal with buyers in Melbourne to sell the cocaine for $160K-165,000 per/kg.

January-May 2011: AFP observe Mr Turner making overseas trips totalling 48 days.

May 27, 2011: AFP intercept barrels of oil and cocaine worth $20M at Mackay railway yards and arrest Mr Turner and three Columbian men. All four are charged with conspiring to traffic, import or export and manufacture commercial quantities of cocaine.

May 31, 2011: Mr Turner makes his first court appearance in Mackay Magistrates Court.

June 1, 2011: Mr Turner appears in court and applies for bail. Bail is granted in the Supreme Court in Mackay by Justice Duncan McMeekin on the condition his mother and grandmother pay a $150,000 cash deposit and an additional surety of all unencumbered family owned property taking the total of his bail to $395,000.

April 29, 2013: Mr Turner appears in court for committal hand up where AFP present evidence including taped conversations, coded conversations, the records of 15 phones, 15-16,000 phone calls, up to 200,000 emails mostly in Spanish and statements from 187 witnesses.

May 1, 2013: Mr Turner is committed to stand trial.

July 2015: Mr Turner's wife and two children travel to Poland and don't return.

Mid August 2015: Mr Turner fails to report to police as per his bail conditions.

September 29, 2015: Mr Turner fails to appear in Brisbane Supreme Court for the start of his trial.

October 14, 2015: Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions take Mr Turner's mother Elizabeth Turner and grandmother Betty Dunmall to court to force them to forfeit their sureties. Elizabeth Turner claims her son has committed suicide.

October 28, 2015: Mr Turner is given a chance to appear and explain himself. He doesn't show up.

November 9, 2015: Mr Turner again fails to show up for court in Brisbane and can not be located by police. Police search his home and find furniture and personal possessions still inside, clothes on the clothesline and his car parked in the driveway.

2015: AFP launch a search for Mr Turner suspecting he has fled the country.

September 15, 2017: Mr Turner is located and arrested in Samal, Davao del Norte, Philippines.