NSW Police have charged two men involved in an alleged plot to murder members of Western Sydney drill group OneFour.
Police raided a home in Sydney’s south-west on Thursday, and arrested a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old man with links to a crime syndicate responsible for carrying out murders and kidnappings, sometimes for rival criminal networks.
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The 26-year-old was charged with 20 offences including conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to kidnap, possession of unauthorised pistol and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and the 20-year-old was charged with five offences, including conspiracy to murder.
Detective Superintendent Peter Faux from the Organised Crime Squad allege the criminal cell was conspiring to murder all four members of Onefour on behalf of another network for financial merit.
“There are a number of motives we’re looking at, but it’s highly likely there’s a conflict between the organised crime group that took out this contract and the intended victims,” he told the ABC.
“They’d done surveillance on the intended victims; they’re following the intended victims on social media. They are extremely committed and are extremely organised.”
“We’ve seized firearms which were intended to be used in this plot. We’ve seized stolen motor vehicles which they had stolen and placed in respect to using in the intended murder.”
Two more men are being pursued under the same investigation and a fifth man linked to the shooting of three people in Sydney’s cocaine war is also wanted over connections to the syndicate.
“There were other people organising the intended murder,” Faux said.
“There will be two further males who will also be arrested and charged in relation to their involvement in the intended murder, and we’ve taken out a warrant for the arrest of a fifth male who is currently, we believe, on the run overseas from police.”
NSW Police allege men involved were linked to the Haouchar organised crime network run by Bilal Haouchar, operating out of Lebanon via Australia, before being dismantled by police last year. Strike Force Tromperie, tasked to investigate the criminal cell, has since put 28 alleged Haouchar syndicate members behind bars.
Police said that OneFour weren’t aware of the alleged murder plot prior to being told by authorities. Their one and only public response to the arrests since has been through an Instagram post of the group members posing in which rapper Jerome “J Emz” Misa stuck his middle finger to the camera.
VICE Australia reached out to the group. They declined to comment further.
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