10 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE I might be a maverick old sea wolf - but there is a VERY big red line I will never cross. But now I'm facing 10 years in jail. Here's why...
Thomas Goertz insists he's just what he looks like - a happy-go-lucky, well-weathered old sea salt chasing a life of adventure on the ocean wave.
But while he may appear to be a modern day Jack Sparrow, Australian Federal Police allege the globetrotting German navigator is something far, far more sinister.
They paint Goertz not as a loveable rogue but a cynical pirate who is prepared to smuggle international drug traffickers out of the country.
Now Goertz has broken his silence to Daily Mail Australia after he was hit by criminal charges which could land him in prison for 10 years.
He most wants to stress and clarify that he has never ever been involved in terrorism.
Detectives have accused Goertz of helping an alleged drug supplier flee Australia by sailing him from Far North Queensland to Thailand in 2023.
That alleged drug dealer, Sayet Erhan Akca, is now believed to be living in Turkey and has been named as the mastermind behind a string of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney.
Goertz is also charged with attempting to commit a federal offence (people smuggling) by agreeing to sneak another alleged drug supplier out of the Top End through the Arafura Sea.
'I'm in a bit of a predicament now,' the 51-year-old told Daily Mail Australia. 'Nobody knows the truth except me.
'All this terror-related stuff - I don't want anything to do with that. I'm not a terrorist. I don't believe in violence. Absolutely not. Not even a little bit.'
Federal police have painted the globetrotting German navigator Thomas Goertz as a pirate prepared to allegedly smuggle international drug traffickers out of the country. He is pictured wearing an ankle monitor with his partner Jade Ormiston reporting on bail in Darwin last week
Goertz and his girlfriend Jade Siu Ying Ormiston were arrested on January 26 on a yacht while allegedly trying to sail accused drug trafficker Hussein Chamas out of the Northern Territory.
Chamas, who had pleaded not guilty to importing and conspiring to traffic a commercial quantity of drugs, had allegedly left a rehabilitation centre north of Newcastle on January 8 using forged court bail documents.
The 35-year-old failed to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on January 20 and was allegedly driven more than 4,000km in a campervan to Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula.
Goertz and Omiston, a 42-year-old British national, were granted bail on February 18 under strict conditions including that they stay in a Darwin hotel and not go within 500m of any airport or boat mooring.
Goertz was arrested again on March 21 and charged with another count of people smuggling for allegedly transporting Akca to Thailand. He was again granted bail after spending three more days in the Darwin watch house.
Neither Goertz nor Ormiston has entered pleas to any charges.
The Akca allegations from 2023 are more complex and complicated even further by claims the alleged fugitive coordinated anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney earlier this year.
'I heard of the terror stuff two days after I got out of the watch house,' Goertz said. 'Oh man, I was so down. I was really devastated.'
Akca was arrested in early 2022 and charged with charged with dealing with more than $100,000 suspected of being the proceeds of crime as well as importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
The 32-year-old former gym and childcare centre owner was granted bail and in July 2023 was allowed to take a holiday in Queensland.
He did not appear as required at Downing Centre Local Court two months later on September 28 and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
By then, police allege, Akca had been on board the 17m luxury vessel Moo for a week with Goertz at the helm, sailing through Indonesia on his way to freedom in Thailand.
Goertz will not publicly discuss his alleged 42-day journey with Akca until his charges have been dealt with but was happy to talk about his life before he was accused of smuggling drug dealers.
He and Ormiston ran out of money to foot their hotel bill in Darwin and their bail conditions have been altered to allow them to live elsewhere in the city.
Goertz met Ormiston, who was born in Hong Kong, about eight years ago in Indonesia and the couple normally lives on a sloop called Juana Lucina.
He grew up in Zug in central Switzerland. As a child and young adult Goertz sailed on the Swiss lakes, the Baltic Sea and in other parts of Europe.
After university he worked in sales and marketing then demolition, specialising in removing hazardous waste such as lead-based paint and asbestos.
He lived in Denmark where he married and had two children.
'But the marriage and the life I had chosen did not suit me very well,' he said.
'I basically got a divorce and then came out to South East Asia in 2015 with a one-way ticket and the specific aim to go sailing and live on the water. And that's what I did.'
Based in Phuket for six or seven years, Goertz said he loved 'the sailing lifestyle' but it could also be hard work.
'Most people immediately think of fancy boats and sipping champagne and cocktails at anchor and it's not at all like that,' he said.
He and Ormiston lived off less than US$1,000 a month, taking jobs such as cleaning hulls, crewing charter vessels and transporting boats from port to port.
Sailing boats can only be moored in Thailand for six months before they are considered imports and attract taxes. Indonesia sets that time limit as three years.
Sailors for hire such as Goertz can solve that problem by taking the boat to a country such as Malaysia, clearing Customs, then returning.
Goertz has sailed non-stop across the north Pacific from Singapore to Mexico. He was trapped for five days inside a hurricane during that 67-day voyage.
An eight-month trip from Phuket to Cape Town in South Africa included three months suck in Mauritius waiting for the winds to change.
'When we weren't working, we were on our own boat,' Goertz said. 'We lived on it and we were sailing all around the islands in Thailand and Indonesia and Malaysia.
'Just going from island to island - island hopping is the phrase. It's fantastic.'
Goertz, who is still close to his son and daughter, calls himself as an 'anti-authoritarian hedonist' on his Instagram account and agrees that is an accurate description.
'I'm living a lifestyle on a boat,' he said. 'So finding pleasure is the most important thing we can do at sea.
'And the pleasure goes many, many ways. Having some beers on a beach with your feet in the sand is extremely pleasurable. Sailing through the night is amazing.
'It's those moments you always look for. And since that is the meaning of life for us, I thought I'm as close to a hedonist as I can get.'
On his 50th birthday in July 2023, Goertz declared in a social media post: 'I can't believe that it has already been half a century of mischief and adventure.'
Asked about that post, Goertz laughed and said, 'That is a perfect description.'
'It sounds a bit naughty but you are always dodging officials,' he said. 'You're always running with your papers somewhere.
'It's the only reason I actually know what year it is because at some point I have to check out of the country.'
Goertz has not spoken to federal police about Akca and won't say for now how he came to be associated with him or Chamas in the alleged criminal conspiracies.
'When I was approached the first time it sounded like an extremely interesting opportunity and a challenge,' he said.
'I've done many interesting trips [in the past] but nothing illegal.'
Goertz and Ormiston are now under curfews which keep them indoors from 7pm to 7am and are required to wear ankle monitors.
'Here in Darwin these five months, this is longest I've been ashore, ever,' Goertz said.
'I'm used to the swell and the movement of the boat and the noises it makes and now we're inside four walls. Nothing is moving and there's no sounds you have to listen to.'
Goertz and Ormiston are due to face Darwin Local Court again on July 22.
Chamas is due to appear in court on charges of not complying with his bail in June and August and will face trial on the drug matters next year.
