Pistols, revolvers and thousands of bullets seized as cops swoop on alleged contract killers

Police have seized multiple semi-automatic pistols, ballistic vests and thousands of rounds of high-calibre ammunition from alleged contract killers as Premier Chris Minns vows to remove illegal guns from the streets.

“You can expect more guns for the police and less guns for members of the community,” Minns said on Tuesday.

Police will carry long-arm guns across New Year’s celebrations following the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 15 people.

“That is a clear and deliberate message from the police that safety is the No.1 priority, and they will be acutely aware and alert for any threats,” Minns said.

Six arrested in relation to alleged contract kill crew

Police announced on Tuesday that they had arrested six people and dismantled a criminal syndicate linked to a November 27 shooting in Tallawong, where attackers allegedly used a flash-bang grenade and opened fire on a home on Loura Street. The occupants of the home were unharmed.

A live grenade, two firearms, ammunition and bleach were allegedly found in the attacker’s getaway car after they fled on foot. A 19-year-old man was arrested on December 9 and remains before the courts.

On Monday, police intercepted a taxi carrying a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy. The pair were allegedly armed with loaded weapons and had cloned number plates and encrypted devices with them.

Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy said the men were probably members of a contract kill crew.

“I believe they were likely a contracted group who undertake various crimes on behalf of other serious organised crime organisations,” he said.

“They were potentially on their way to commit a further serious, violent act involving firearms.”

Police also arrested a 25-year-old man on Mountford Avenue, Guildford, and seized two mobile phones, including one believed to be an encrypted phone used for criminal purposes.

Police then searched a home on Talbot Street, Guildford, where further encrypted devices, ammunition and clothes were seized, and another property in Rouse Hill, where detectives located four allegedly stolen vehicles with cloned number plates, five firearms, thousands of rounds of high-calibre ammunition, multiple fake number plates and two ballistic vests.

Two men aged 18 and 23, and a 17-year-old boy, allegedly ran from the Rouse Hill property but were arrested. The four men and two boys were charged with a total of 57 offences. The 23-year-old was also charged with an additional eight offences in relation to his alleged involvement in the Tallawong shooting.

All were refused bail to face court on Tuesday.

Abdy said the guns seized were typically used in organised crime murders in Sydney. “This seizure certainly hinders that group and certainly dismantles that criminal syndicate,” he said.

Public-place shooting plot foiled, police allege

Police have also made two arrests and seized a firearm following multiple raids in relation to an alleged public-place shooting plot, believed to be linked to organised crime, in Sydney’s south-west.

Dramatic footage showed heavily armed tactical police storming a home on Isis Street, Fairfield West, on Sunday.

Officers dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles, pistols and riot shields then raided the home, allegedly seizing illicit drugs and a mobile phone before arresting a 24-year-old at the home on Monday night.

Regan Yaw Lee was charged with directing the activities of a criminal group and recruiting others for criminal activity, at Cabramatta Police Station on Monday, after an investigation into the alleged public-place shooting plot began this month. He has also been charged with gun and drug offences.

Lee was refused bail in court on Tuesday and is due to face Parramatta Local Court on February 26.

His arrest came hours after a second home on Kent Road, Greenacre, was raided, where police seized another phone. Police cars blocked off a section of the street as heavily armed tactical police raided the property.

Police also pursued a black Porsche before it crashed through a fence onto a golf course at South Granville, where the occupants fled the vehicle.

A firearm was found in the car, which also had allegedly cloned number plates.

A 17-year-old is in custody after being released from hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries sustained during his arrest near the golf course. The two arrests are linked and the pair were in communication with each other, police said.

NSW Police Superintendent Grant Healey said the raids were a result of “good, proactive police work” after a general duties police officer pulled over a suspicious vehicle.

“They were curious and tenacious and they got some information from the car … good investigators kept on chasing every lead until we uncovered the plot,” he said.

Healey said the suspects had no particular affiliation to any one group.

“They’re not a gang – they just seem to pick up the work as they go,” Healey said.

“These are organised criminals that are somewhere in Sydney, are happy to destroy young people to get them to do their criminal acts … They’re using children because they’re too cowardly to do it themselves,” he said.

Further arrests are expected to be made as the investigation continues.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the shooting allegedly plotted by Lee was targeted and not an attack on the public as he praised the work of officers laying charges against the man.

“Our investigations haven’t stopped … we’re not focused on letting any of those crimes go,” Lanyon said.

“I’m really proud of the work to actually put the 24-year-old male before court this morning. It’s a great arrest.”

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