Australian police foiled an alleged organized crime hit by a so-called kill team near a Sydney daycare facility, authorities said yesterday.
New South Wales police on Tuesday swooped in on two cars after learning three men were preparing to carry out the alleged killing in Revesby, a suburb in the city’s southwest.
Police stopped the cars and arrested the men, finding two firearms, balaclavas, body cameras and jerricans containing fuel during a search.
Photo: New South Wales Police via AFP
A third firearm was located during subsequent searches of vehicles and premises allegedly linked to the men.
Footage from Tuesday showed the cars wedged between police vehicles as authorities moved in on the alleged offenders brandishing firearms.
The cars’ windshields were pocked with bullet holes.
One witness, who did not wish to be named, told Australia’s Channel Nine he heard the gunshots and went to investigate.
“I started walking out of my house and I heard some more gunshots and then cars were swerving,” he said.
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook said authorities had been investigating a transnational crime network “believed to be involved in multiple conspiracies to murder” for several weeks.
Police said the victim was targeted due to a breakdown in relationships within the syndicate, he said.
The trio of men reportedly did not know the victim.
They came “pretty close” to carrying out the hit, Cook said.
He expressed shock that the group was “prepared to kill” in an area where there was such a high risk of collateral damage.
“These individuals were being watched, and we moved at the right moment,” he said, adding that there was no chance the trio would have been “allowed to make it to a center.”
The men have been charged with a string of offenses, including conspiracy to commit murder and participating in a criminal group. The trio were refused bail and were to appear in court yesterday.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Vietnamese criminal syndicate hired the three men and paid for a hit on the victim who was previously linked to the network.
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