NSW gun report
A man was gunned down in the middle of a suburban Sydney street on Friday night, with police saying it was a targeted attack and possibly a revenge killing. At about 6.15pm, police were called to Wilbur Street in Greenacre to find 29-year-old victim Khaled Kahwaji fatally wounded. Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the killing, in particular examining the last six hours of his life. Police said they needed to uncover why Kahwaji, from Rhodes, had come to Greenacre - whether he was lured there or taken against his will. Kahwaji was charged with the killing of a drug dealer in 2010, but the case collapsed and he was released.
NSW Police this week staged one of their biggest simultaneous operations, raiding dozens of properties as part of a long-running investigation into the supply of firearms and drugs to organised crime groups. Nineteen people were arrested on Tuesday as part of the dawn raids, including two high-ranking bikies from the Hells Angels and Comanchero gangs. The president of the Hells Angels Sydney chapter was charged with offering to supply 50 Glock pistols to another person. The others charged, including a 20th person charged on Wednesday, face charges ranging from possessing unauthorised firearms, selling prohibited firearms and ammunition, supplying and possessing explosives and drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
In a raid later in the week, officers searched a property in Woodpark and found a .38 calibre Smith and Wesson revolver, a 303 calibre rifle and ammunition. A 39-year-old former high-ranking member of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang was charged with unauthorised possession of a prohibited pistol and unauthorised possession of ammunition. Prior to the raids, officers from Strike Force Alistair had seized illicit drugs with a potential street value of $6 million, numerous pistols and rifles, a machine gun, a hand grenade, explosives, and more than half a million dollars in counterfeit cash. Strike Force Alistair was established by the NSW Police Force Organised Crime Squad and the NSW Crime Commission in July 2011, with assistance also provided by the Gangs Squad.
Meanwhile officers from Operation Apollo, the Middle Eastern Organised Crime crackdown on gun violence, seized two firearms, ammunition and steroids during a search warrant at a home in Sydney's south-west on Wednesday. They found a 12-gauge single-barrel shortened shotgun, shotgun shells and numerous vials of testosterone. Detectives also discovered a 12-gauge under and over shortened shotgun in a garden shed at the rear of the property. The firearms, ammunition and testosterone were all seized. A 29-year-old resident of the property, who police will allege is an associate of the Comanchero is now before the courts.
Early last week, police revealed seven firearms had been stolen from a farmhouse in Carcoar, south-west of Bathurst. The thieves broke into a gun save, taking five rifles including a Ruger M77 and a Diana 31 Panther .177, and two double-barrel 12 gauge shotguns. A quantity of cash and other items were also missing. Bathurst detectives are investigating.
On the Central Coast, a man was allegedly caught with a replica pistol after police attended a brawl at Gosford Railway Station. It's alleged as officers arrived, a 21-year-old man ran from the scene but as he fled with police giving chase, he allegedly threw a firearm into nearby bushes. That weapon was later determined to be a replica pistol. He was charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol and stalking/intimidation.
Two men were arrested and a replica firearm was seized during a vehicle search in Port Macquarie on Friday night. The pair were charged with a conspiracy to commit an armed robbery.
A 17-year-old has been charged with firearms offences, with police seizing a rifle and crow bar during a vehicle stop in the Hunter Valley. Officers pulled over a white BMW in Singleton, in which they allegedly found the shortened .22 calibre rifle. He was charged with possessing shortened firearm, possessing unregistered/prohibited and unauthorised firearm, and not keeping the weapon safely.
In Sydney's north-west on Wednesday, an investigation by Kuring-gai local area command detectives culminated in a raid on a property at Canoelands, where a 67-year-old man was arrested and charged with firearm and drug offences. It will be alleged police located two unregistered firearms, an amount of ammunition, one cannabis plant, and several kilograms of cannabis leaf with an estimated potential street value of between $30,000 to $45,000.
Finally, a man has been charged over a string of armed robberies, including two at fast food restaurants in Sydney's south-west last month. Strike Force Wither was established by the Metropolitan Robbery Unit to examine the links between robberies, two of which were canvassed in a previous Gun Report. Officers were called to a Liverpool fast food restaurant just before midnight on Wednesday, following reports of another robbery where a firearm was produced. A short time later, police nabbed a 26-year-old man at a property in Casula, seizing items that may link him to other robberies. He has since been charged with three counts of robbery armed with a dangerous weapon.
Compiled by Crime Editor Lisa Davies
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