Accused members of Alameddine crew arrested in crackdown on alleged Sydney drug syndicate

An accused member of the Alameddine crime network has been dragged out of his home in his undies amid a crackdown on an alleged ‘dial-a-dealer’ ring which police say is flooding Sydney with drugs – and fuelling the bloody underworld war. 

Eighteen men – all believed to be low and mid-level associates of the Alameddine crew – were arrested on Tuesday morning after a 450-strong team of police officers raided 29 properties across the city’s south-west. 

The blitz follows a 10-month-long investigation into the organised crime group.

Police, desperate for a win after 14 fatal shootings on suburban streets in the past 18 months, said the raids have brought down a major player in the drug trade.  

‘(We’ve) cut the head off the snake,’ Commissioner Karen Webb said. 

The arrested men will be charged with crimes including drug supply, firearm, dealing with the proceeds of crime and direct or participate in a criminal group.

Dramatic footage shows police ramming down the doors of several homes, before the alleged crooks were taken away in handcuffs.

The man in his underwear was seen sitting on the side of the road barefoot, staring at the ground in handcuffs early on Tuesday morning.

He was given a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before he was taken to the police station. 

One man in a wheelchair was also arrested during the raids, while another man put up his rude finger while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

The raids were carried out in Sydney suburbs Guildford, Merrylands, Chester Hill, South Granville, Casula, Yagoona and Wentworthville. 

Also arrested were alleged members of the Alameddine crime crew, including Rafat Alameddine’s brother-in-law, Assaad Alahmad.

Trent Jeske, another alleged mid-ranking member of the group, was also arrested. 

The crime network had allegedly been operating a sophisticated ‘dial-a-dealer’ scheme, which police allege was involved in supplying prohibited and prescription drugs across the state. 

The raids were carried out as part of a large police investigation ran by Taskforce Erebus, the group recently established to coordinate investigations into a spate of fatal shootings in Sydney involving rival organised crime gangs.

NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole claimed police had ‘closed the net’ on one of Sydney’s most ‘dangerous crime families’.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was confident police had ‘cut the head off the snake’, shutting down the syndicate altogether.

She said those arrested on Tuesday didn’t appear to be employed but ‘displayed considerable wealth’. 

Police claim mobile phones were seized which allegedly raked in more than $250,000 a week in drug deals.

The alleged dial-a-dealer syndicate utilised 36 phones, with one device having more than 700 customers. 

Assistant Commissioner Mick Fitzgerald alleged the phones had ‘contributed to a number of murders’ over the past two years, with large amounts of cash and drugs such as cocaine, prescription drugs, MDMA and cannabis found during the raids.

Weapons, luxury watches and jewellery and cars were also found. 

‘We believe we’ve had a significant impact on the Alameddine organised crime network – the drug distribution of that network has been dismantled today,’ he said. 

More arrests are expected to be made in the coming days. 

Over the past 18 months, 13 people have been killed in gang violence in Sydney’s west and southwest. Three executions have occurred in recent weeks. 

The latest shooting occurred on May 14 when Rami Iskander, the nephew of slain gangland figure Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad, was shot dead at his western Sydney home. 

Iskander, 23, was shot in the chest in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child at his home on Knox Street at Belmore. 

The young father was killed just weeks after his uncle Ahmad was sprayed with bullets outside a Greenacre home on April 27 after a $1million bounty was placed on his head.

Detectives are chasing down three theories trying to explain why Iskander was killed, including whether or not his enemies were trying to prevent him from avenging his father’s death.

Taskforce Erebus is examining the circumstances and links between recent fatal shootings as well as dozens of acts of violence and the supply of prohibited drugs, illicit firearms, vehicle theft and various other criminal activities.

The taskforce brings together Australian Federal Police, detectives in southwest Sydney, the NSW Crime Commission and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

It also involves bikie busting strike force Raptor, which has made a name for itself with its heavy-handed tactics in recent years. 

Earlier this month Comanchero boss Tarek, 41, and his brother Omar Zahed, 39, were gunned down while leaving a BodyFit gym on Parramatta Road in Auburn, western Sydney, on Tuesday. 

Omar died at the scene while his older brother was rushed to hospital fighting for life after suffering with ten bullet wounds to his head and body. 

The attack has left Tarek almost completely blind. 

Police had told the brothers as recently as May 5 that their lives were at risk but their warnings went unheeded. 

Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said police are investigating possible motives for the assassination attempt, refusing to rule out the possibility of an inside job.

Police sources claim the Comanchero are in bed with the Alameddine crime family.

By extension, the Alameddines’ rivals the Hamzy family are considered enemies of the Comancheros. 

Omar was laid to rest at the Rookwood Cemetery. 

Mourners, some wearing balaclavas, arrived at the gravesite and embraced Muslim friends and family of the slain man.

Among them was underworld identity, Ahmed Elomar, the brother of ISIS terrorist Mohamed Elomar. 

Elomar told Daily Mail Australia that Omar’s fatal shooting was evidence of the ‘shocking state of affairs for young Muslim men in Sydney’.

‘This generation is all over the place,’ he said.

‘What happened, who knows?’. 

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