‘Cleaned up’: Huge call on city’s crime gangs
Sixteen people have been charged after a series of raids which police claim effectively eliminated the high-profile Alamedinne criminal group.
Strike Force Wessex was established to investigate alleged organised crime networks involved in “dial-a-dealer” drug suppliers in Sydney.
Detectives shut down 26 alleged drug run phones connected to more than 50,000 customers earlier this month.
The investigation culminated on Wednesday with 250 officers raiding multiple properties across southwest Sydney.
It resulted in the arrest and charging of 16 people including rapper Ali “Ay Huncho” Younes and a number of “masterminds” allegedly behind the criminal operation.
Younes was taken to Bankstown Police Station where he was charged with alleged kidnapping offences. He was refused bail to appear in Bankstown Local Court on Thursday.
Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said police believed they had eliminated what was left of this particular criminal network in Australia.
“Today’s operation has cleaned up what was left of them on our shores,” he said.
It is the largest organised crime blitz since police charged 41 people in May 2022, forcing many big players overseas.
Detective Superintendent Grant Taylor said police allege the “antagonism between this criminal network and its rival” has been resolved as a result of these arrests.
“[It] came down to drugs and the territorial need to control the drug trade in certain parts of Sydney,” he said of the police allegations.
“But with those phones now out of play – and a number of those alleged to have had control of those phones behind bars – we anticipate that conflict has been eradicated.”
During search warrants across south-west Sydney, detectives seized three firearms, large quantities of drugs, knives, cars, luxury goods and $60,000 in cash. All items were seized for further forensic examination.
A deadly crime war has played out in the streets of Sydney in recent years, with the Alameddine and Hamzy crime gangs considered its largest players.
At least 20 alleged murders have been linked to the gangland warfare as well as a string of serious broad daylight shootings.
Investigations under Strike Force Wessex continue.
