Hitman offered $400,000 to murder Sydney underworld figure, police allege
Police have thwarted an alleged conspiracy to murder a Sydney underworld figure that would have earned the would-be killer a $400,000 payday.
In December, police began investigating information that a 30-year-old man from Sydney was the target of a murder plot.
olice will allege in court that Sulaiman Ahmad,18, and Azam El-Mohamad, 30, were contracted by a criminal cell with orders to kill the man who had links to high-profile organised crime figures.
El-Mohamad, who is behind bars, was arrested on Wednesday morning. He was transferred from prison to Maroubra police station and will be charged with conspiracy to murder and participating in a criminal group.
Detective Superintendent Peter Faux, from the organised crime unit, said police would allege El-Mohamad was the intended shooter, and was set to receive upwards of $400,000 for the gangland hit.
Once charges are laid, he will face Waverley Local Court.
Ahmad was arrested at a home in Greenfield Park at 6am on Wednesday and taken to Fairfield police station, where he is expected to face charges of conspiracy to murder and participating in a criminal group.
He will face Fairfield Local Court on Wednesday.
Poice say two automatic firearms were found during the investigation which were the intended murder weapons.
Faux said a third man, who was set to be the getaway driver, was in the sights of police. However, an arrest warrant had not been issued yet.
“We’re alleging that these people were doing surveillance on the intended victim and waiting for the right opportunity to actually murder this intended victim,” Faux said.
Faux said the three men allegedly involved in the plot were not members of the organised crime group that ordered the hit, and potentially didn’t even know who the intended victim was.
Faux said police had spoken to the would-be victim and were working with him to “mitigate risk” of further attempts on his life.
It comes after police dismantled another alleged murder plot last week involving western Sydney rap crew Onefour.
Police allege a breakaway cell of the Haouchar crime group was contracted to kill four members of the high-profile rap group.
“Only last week we demonstrated the effectiveness of arresting and charging those involved in planning criminal actions, and we are dedicated to work proactively to identify and prevent high-risk events before victims are created and we have appalling crimes to investigate,” said State Crime Command’s director of crime operations, Detective acting Superintendent Grant Taylor.
“This is the third such operation where SCC detectives have identified and intervened to prevent an alleged criminal cell involved in conspiracy to murder.
“It won’t be the last.”
Police said the Onefour alleged murder plot was unrelated to the arrests on Wednesday, with different criminal groups involved.
The Herald this week revealed a NSW Crime Commission annual report had detailed a culture of intensifying cruelty in Sydney’s underworld as Australia’s $10 billion a year drug habit fuels organised crime violence.
The report shone a spotlight on NSW cocaine kingpins and their obscene wealth, with one unnamed organised crime figure who died in the first half of 2023 worth $100 million.
The commission believes others are worth a similar amount.
The report also reveals the extreme lengths criminal groups are going to in a mission to control cocaine supply, including brazen shootings, kidnappings and torture, with homicide contracts worth millions of dollars.
Kidnapping victims in NSW are having their fingers and toes cut off and teeth removed in order to extort ransom payments from families or associates, the report said.