SEVERAL high-ranking bikie gang members, as well as senior figures from other organised crime groups, have been arrested after hundreds of police officers launched dawn raids across Sydney and Wollongong.
Around 350 officers, including heavily-armed teams from the Tactical Operations Unit, were involved in this morning's operation, which follows a 21-month covert investigation into the supply of drugs, guns and explosives to criminal gangs.
At least three very senior bikies, reportedly including the alleged vice presidents of the Hells Angels Merrylands and Parramatta chapters, were among those arrested.
Police said members of at least one Balkan crime gang, as well as an Asian organised crime gang, were also apprehended.
Police will allege a number of those arrested were involved in the supply of guns to Sydney's criminal underworld, including to the rival Hells Angels and Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Today's raids targeted about 30 properties across southwest and central Sydney, as well as on the state's south and mid-north coast.
Among the properties raided were a Hells Angels' clubhouse in Sydney's Chinatown, and the homes of a number of senior bikie gang members.
The raids are the culmination of a 21-month operation involving detectives and investigators from the powerful NSW Crime Commission. Almost 100 telephones were tapped and half a million phone calls intercepted during the course of this inquiry.
NSW Police Detective Superintendent Mick Plotecki said today's arrests had led to the seizure of guns, including shotguns and a machine gun, explosives including a hand grenade, drugs and about $500,000 in counterfeit money.
Among 18 people arrested today were “senior members from the Rebels, Comancheros, the Hells Angels. We also have Balkan organised crime and Asian organised crime involved,” he said.
“The Asian and Balkan groups were involved in supplying drugs and guns...there was a relationship between these gangs,” Supt Plotecki said.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said police anticipated to charge about 30 people in total, some of who were likely to be in court today.
The operation should serve as a warning to other criminal gangs, he said.
“We're not going away. We will continue to pressure you, those that support you, those that supply you with guns and drugs. We will come after you. There will be another operation, this will go on,” he said.
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