An accused Alameddine associate revealed his dramatic weight loss when he was dragged out of his home by police in his footy shorts.
Trent Jeske, 23, was one of eighteen men arrested on Tuesday morning, all believed to be low and mid-ranking associates of the infamous Alameddine crime crew.
The alleged member was able to show off his less rotund figure as he was escorted to a waiting police vehicle by two officers during a raid in Sydney’s southwest.
Jeske was able to shift the considerable amount of weight after having lap band surgery ealier this year, which involves putting a ring around the top part of the stomach.
If successful, the surgery can decrease food intake by reducing the stomach size, leaving patients feeling fuller for longer.
The alleged mid-ranking member appears to have already achieved significant weight loss post-op, after he was pictured on a boat substantially heavier (pictured left)
The alleged member was able to show off his less rotund figure as he was escorted to a waiting police vehicle by two officers during a raid in Sydney’s southwest (pictured)
The alleged mid-ranking member appears to have already achieved significant weight loss post-op, he was pictured last year on a boat substantially heavier.
He was taken into custody only wearing a pair of footy shorts, with another accused member of the crew dragged out of his home in just a pair of Bonds underwear.
The arrests come as police crackdown on an alleged ‘dial-a-dealer’ ring which police say is flooding Sydney with illicit drugs and fuelling the underworld war.
A 450-strong team of police officers raided 29 properties across the city’s southwest on Tuesday, after 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 NSW drug trade.
‘(We’ve) cut the head off the snake,’ Commissioner Karen Webb said.
Jeske was able to shift the considerable amount of weight after having lap band surgery which involves putting a ring around the top part of the stomach (pictured after the surgery)
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.
Jeske is currently on a bail for a raft of charges, including possessing an unauthorised firearm, affray and breaching Covid restrictions during the pandemic.
His home was raided by NSW police in September last year.
Jeske is also alleged to have been involved in a brawl at an address on Osgood St in Guildford in Sydney’s west on September 5.
Police alleged the fight unfolded after an Alameddine associate refused to talk about one of their neighbours, believed to be Salim Hamze.
An accused member of the Alameddine crime crew was dragged out of his house by police in just a pair of Bonds underwear during raids in Sydney on Tuesday
Eighteen men were arrested around Sydney’s southwest on Tuesday morning over their alleged role in a drug syndicate
Pictured is one of the men arrested on Tuesday. The blitz follows a ten-month-long investigation into the organised crime group, which NSW Police will allege has been distributing drugs throughout the city
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.
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 flashed two middle fingers at waiting detectives as he was escorted from his home.
The raids were carried out in Sydney suburbs Guildford, Merrylands, Chester Hill, South Granville, Casula, Yagoona and Wentworthville.
Among the arrested men were Rafat Alameddine’s brother-in-law, Assaad Alahmad.
Trent Jeske, another alleged mid-ranking member of the group, was also arrested.
NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole claimed police had ‘closed the net’ on one of Sydney’s most ‘dangerous crime families’.
A man in a wheelchair was also arrested on Tuesday after 29 properties were raided
One man accused of being involved in the drug syndicate puts up his middle fingers during his arrest
Police, desperate for a ‘win’ after a series of fatal shootings almost weekly in the city’s south-west, claimed an ‘entire’ syndicate was shut down as a result of Tuesday’s arrests
Police are seen speaking with one man arrested on Tuesday
Pictured from left to right are alleged Alameddine associates Ali Younes and Masood Zakaria, and Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine. None were arrested in today’s raids
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.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she was confident police had ‘cut the head off the snake’, shutting down the syndicate altogether
The alleged dial-a-dealer syndicate utilised 36 phones, with one device having more than 700 customers
More arrests are expected to be made in the coming days. Pictured is one man who was arrested on Tuesday morning
A new taskforce has been set up to investigate the fatal shooting of Rami Iskander, 23. Taskforce Erebus helped coordinate the raids of 20 properties across Sydney this week
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.
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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.
A team of 450 police officers carried out the raids on Tuesday
Police had to ram the doors down of some residents before they were taken away in cuffs
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.
Tarek Zahed (seated) and his brother Omar (standing) were gunned down outside a gym in Sydney’s west earlier this month
Police and paramedics are seen trying to save the two men at the gym after the shooting – with pools of blood seen across the foyer
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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