A registered sex offender who was the leader of a child exploitation gang allegedly used apps including TikTok and Instagram to contact minors before he was arrested in Melbourne just weeks after being released from immigration detention.
It comes as the government pushes through legislation to try to put released immigration detainees back behind bars after the Supreme Court ruled they should be released because indefinite detention was illegal.
Asylum seeker Emran Dad, 33, was arrested in Dandenong, southeast of Melbourne, and charged with nine counts of failing to comply with his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender.
He was also charged with trespassing after failing to leave a public arena in Dandenong on November 24.
An ex-leader of a child exploitation gang allegedly used popular apps such as TikTok and Instagram to contact minors before he was arrested in Melbourne just weeks after being released from immigration detention (stock image)
Emran Dad, a registered sex offender, appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court (pictured) on Tuesday afternoon, where he made no application for bail.
The registered sex offender appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Tuesday afternoon, where he made no application for bail.
Although Dad's lawyer had hoped to return on Wednesday to make that request, he was told this would not be possible until December 14th.
The court heard Dad had an intellectual disability, which had gone largely untreated while in immigration detention.
He also complained of breathing difficulties while in custody.
Dad's lawyer asked his client to be treated by a prison nurse before being taken back to prison, saying he was 'not happy with being in custody at the moment'.
He requested to appear in person at his next court appearance on December 14.
Dad, who is from Afghanistan, is alleged to have run a prostitution ring targeting underage girls in state care and was jailed for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in exchange for cigarettes.
Victoria Police said on Tuesday: 'Police today arrested a man after he breached his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender.
'The 33-year-old was arrested in Dandenong this morning without incident. The police are currently interrogating him.
Victoria Police can confirm the man is among those recently released following a Supreme Court ruling. Victoria Police is always proactive in addressing community risks posed by those who would commit criminal acts.”
Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari, 65, was arrested at the Pavlos Motel in Pooraka in Adelaide's north on Saturday and charged with indecently assaulting a female guest
Opposition Chancellor of the Exchequer Jane Hume has accused Home Secretary Clare O'Neil (pictured) of 'bungling' the release of 148 immigration detainees
Dad's arrest comes as it was revealed on Monday evening that Australian authorities had arrested a further two released prisoners.
Mohammed Ali Nadari was arrested in Sydney's west last weekend on drug charges, just six days after his release.
Afghan refugee Aliyawar Yawari, 65, was arrested at the Pavlos Motel in Pooraka in Adelaide's north on Saturday and charged with indecently assaulting a female guest.
Yawari remains in court.
The charged detainees were entitled to the presumption of innocence, Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said.
Legislation should have been in the works and ready to keep the worst offenders behind bars in case the case was lost, the opposition argues.
But a preventive detention regime could not have kept the entire cohort behind bars because the government could not circumvent a Supreme Court ruling, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus said in a statement filed in the Senate.
The court made a decision that applied to people in immigration detention under the same conditions as the original complainant, NZYQ, and detaining anyone affected by the ruling would be unlawful, he said.
Any delay could expose the Commonwealth to legal action for false imprisonment, the attorney general said.
The government was required to detail how each case linked to the ruling, the reasons why they were released and which countries were approached to resettle them, shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash said.
Labor Minister Murray Watt argued that former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's inability to enter into resettlement deals or deport the cohort was the reason the people were allowed to remain in detention.
The opposition has been given the opportunity to review the legal advice the government received from the Advocate General.
The preventive detention regime will arrest people from the cohort who pose a serious risk to the community and allow the government to apply to put them back behind bars, even if they have completed their prison sentence.
It is not known exactly how many people will be subject to the new detention regime, but Mr Watt previously suggested this would only apply to a small number of people.
The preventive detention laws will allow released detainees to be put back behind bars if a court is satisfied that they are likely to “pose an unacceptable risk of committing a serious violent or sexual crime ”.
It would also be a criminal offense for people convicted of serious or violent sexual offenses to come near a school or contact their victim or the victim's family.
The maximum duration of the order is three years and the minister will have to submit a new request for review to the court every year.
There is also a mandatory prison sentence of one year and up to five prison sentences if a released detainee violates an enhanced supervision order that applies to him or her.
The Greens argue that the laws go too far and create a two-tiered justice system as criminals are released every day.
Labor had capitulated to the coalition to avoid a political battle over national security, Greens senator David Shoebridge said.
“If you have to put a few people in prison for the rest of their lives even though there is no evidence of future offending… then Labor is prepared to pay that price,” he said, pointing to problems with the tools used to assess the risk someone runs.
The amended legislation will be approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday.