Innocent mum’s murder likely linked to big drug bust
Kat Wong |
Possible links between a brutal kidnapping and execution, a daycare murder plot and a transnational organised crime network are under investigation after police seized $260 million worth of illegal drugs.
Three men were arrested and charged on Tuesday night after police found almost half a tonne of prohibited drugs alongside three pistols and a bag of semi-automatic magazines while searching alleged safe houses in Sydney’s south and west.
The seizures were part of an investigation into the supply of drugs to NSW by a transnational organised crime network thought to be run from Southeast Asia.
Organised crime squad commander Peter Faux said the gang might also be tied to an incident in early October, where officers pounced on a group of men who were driving through Revesby in Sydney’s southwest with balaclavas and pistols.
They were accused of attempting to intercept and kill their target as he picked up a child at a daycare centre.
Police are also looking at connections between the cocaine and heroin supply, and an Australian expat linked on Wednesday to the gunpoint abduction and murder of a Bankstown woman in front of her two sons in April.
“That is part of what we’re looking at, absolutely,” Det Supt Faux said.
“But we’re not just siloing in on one specific person.
“We’ve got a number of inquiries in respect to offshore entities.”
The murder was believed to stem from a dispute between the woman’s de facto husband and an interstate organised crime group he allegedly worked for.
Det Supt Faux said Tuesday’s bust was just the start of their operation and others would be charged.
The alleged safe houses were located in Campsie, Bankstown, Mays Hill and Bonnyrigg Heights where police found 415kg of prohibited drugs including 287kg of methylamphetamine, 81kg heroin, 47kg of cocaine and 838g of MDMA.
A ballistic vest and $450,000 in cash were also seized.
Two men, aged 19 and 26, were arrested at the Mays Hills property and charged with large commercial drug supply and participating in a criminal group.
Both were refused bail.
A third man, also 26, was arrested in Bonnyrigg Heights and charged with two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity and dealing with property proceeds of crime.
AAP
