Sydney crime network shut down as cops raid 20 properties and countless are arrested

Alleged Alameddine member Trent Jeske was arrested on Tuesday after properties were raided across Sydney

A massive alleged drug syndicate has been shut down by police as 20 properties were raided across Sydney.

The arrests follow a ten-month investigation into a south-west Sydney-based organised criminal network allegedly operating a drug distribution chain.

NSW Police said the ‘entire’ syndicate was arrested on Tuesday after more than 20 search warrants were carried out.

Those involved have been taken to police stations with charges expected to be laid.

Among those arrested are alleged members of the notorious Alameddine crime crew, including Rafat Alameddine’s brother-in-law Assaad Alahmad.

Another alleged member, Trent Jeske, was also arrested, the Daily Telegraph reported. 

The crime network had also allegedly been operating a sophisticated ‘dial-a-dealer’ scheme which police allege was involved in supplying prohibited and prescription drugs across New South Wales. 

The raids were carried out as part of a large police investigation ran by Taskforce Erebus – the recent taskforce established to coordinate investigations into a spate of fatal shootings in Sydney involving rival organised crime gangs.

Pictured from left to right are Alameddine associates Ali Younes and Masood Zakaria, and Rafat Alameddine and Hamdi Alameddine

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

Thirteen people have been killed in gang violence in Sydney’s west and southwest over the past 18 months.

The latest shooting happened on May 14 when the nephew of slain gangland figure Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad was shot dead at his western Sydney home – the third fatal shooting in recent weeks.

Rami Iskander, 23, was shot in the torso in front of his pregnant wife and two-year-old child at his home on Knox Street at Belmore. 

Iskander was killed just days 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 new police taskforce has been established to coordinate investigations into a spate of fatal shootings in Sydney involving rival organised crime gangs 

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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 will examine 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.