AAP
The national president of the Hells Angels is among high-ranking outlaw bikies and members of ethnic crime gangs arrested in early morning raids by NSW police.
A total of 19 people were arrested on Tuesday as part of Strike Force Alistair - a joint operation between police and the NSW Crime Commission targeting organised crime in the state.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell told parliament the national president of the Hells Angels was among those caught.
Drugs, firearms, a stun gun, a hand grenade, a ballistic vest and around $500,000 in counterfeit cash were seized.
The Crime Commission has also issued two restraining orders on assets, police said.
A 57-year-old senior Hells Angel has been charged with numerous drug supply offences, as well as a charge of selling a firearm.
He was refused bail to face Central Local Court on Tuesday.
Three other men - aged 35, 33 and 25 - were also charged with offences relating to the supply of a commercial quantity of prohibited drugs.
The older man will appear in Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday afternoon, while the other two are set to face Fairfield Local Court.
Speaking at Crime Commission headquarters earlier on Tuesday, Detective Superintendent Mick Plotecki said 350 officers took part in the raids, executing 30 warrants across southwest Sydney, the northern metro area, the city, and the south coast.
The operation targeted senior members of the Hells Angels, Comancheros, and Rebels, as well as Asian and Balkan crime gangs, police said.
The arrests were the culmination of two years of work involving the Crime Commission and police, 95 surveillance warrants, 41 telephone intercept warrants and the monitoring of more than 500,000 phone calls.
Det Supt Plotecki said police expected to charge around 30 people on Tuesday with commercial drugs supply, firearms offences, providing explosives, and matters in relation to counterfeiting cash.
He said a key component of the operation was "targeting those people that make these networks work".
"We're targeting particularly those people that go out and procure firearms and drugs, and also those that supply them," Det Supt Plotecki said.
"It certainly makes it more difficult for them."
Police Minister Michael Gallacher has praised "the incredible efforts and success" of the police and the NSW Crime Commission.
He said everyone involved in the operation had "been relentless in smashing these criminal networks".
"This is only the beginning of a newly enhanced and stronger partnership ... in targeting organised crime," he said in a statement.
Mr O'Farrell said 30 people would face charges after police carried out what was one of the biggest firearm and drug operations in the history of the state.
"They have resulted in 19 arrests, including the national president of the Hells Angels, and the vice presidents of the Rebels and other high-ranking members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
"Around 30 people will be charged with a raft of serious offences, some which carry sentences of life imprisonment."
Two restraining orders on assets have also been issued, he added, with police seizing a machine gun and hand grenades.
"This is the result of terrific work by the NSW police in targeting organised crime, drug supply and illegal weapons," Mr O'Farrell told question time.
"(But) there is no finishing line when it comes to these characters, so the work of the NSW Police Force continues."
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