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Four Melburnians have been linked to the gun used in a fatal shooting of an innocent university student in Sydney’s south-west as part of the city’s gangland war.
Police alleged in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday that Vaifaalie Tuafuti, Omar Mohamed, Amenah Abusud and a child worked for the Alameddine crime family in a recent spate of violence against the so-called Coconut Cartel.
A police summary read out in Abusud’s extradition hearing revealed investigators have linked the four to a gun found at the family home in the suburb of Glen Alpine where Marco Tapia, 23, was shot dead in his bed early on September 1.
NSW Police have said the wrong address was targeted in what is believed to have been a botched organised crime killing. Two teenagers were charged with murder early on Thursday over the incident.
The four Victorians mentioned in court have not been charged over Tapia’s death but are accused over a home invasion in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville and of shooting cars in Turrella the night before.
Ballistic analysis found discharged cartridge cases at the two scenes matched and were then “positively mapped” to the Glen Alpine homicide scene, where a firearm was found, a NSW Police investigator testified on Thursday.
“Subsequent ballistic examination confirmed that the firearm was used to discharge rounds recovered from all three crime scenes,” he said.
“Investigations relating to the homicide at Mount Sugarloaf Drive, Glen Alpine, remain ongoing.”
Police say Tuafuti, Mohamed, Abusud and a child left Donnybrook in Melbourne’s north late on August 29 and drove to Campbelltown in Sydney’s south-west, arriving at an Airbnb property about 5am on August 30.
A senior constable from NSW Police’s anti-gang Raptor squad said the group were “contracted by a faction of the Alameddine organised crime network … for the purposes of committing extremely violent crimes targeting several Sydney-based close associates of the Coconut Cartel”.
Court documents released to this masthead reveal Mohamed, Tuafuti, the child, aged 16, and an unknown fourth person are accused of breaking into a home in Hurstville about 2am on August 31. No one was home.
“Offenders utilised a sledgehammer to gain entry to the premises and discharged a round of ammunition into a wall inside,” a statement of alleged facts says.
The court heard the break-in was filmed, and the occupant later received a WhatsApp message that said: “We were in your house to kill you if you were there, but God gave you life today. I promise you, we are going to make sure your kids grow up with no father.”
The four allegedly then drove to a home in Turrella that police said was “well-known to law enforcement” for links with the Coconut Cartel.
Police allege four shots were fired into parked vehicles outside the house before the quartet drove back to Campbelltown.
The officer from the Raptor squad said the four Victorians then left their Airbnb about 1.50am on September 1 and returned about 4am, “where they appear to be in a rush to collect their belongings before all leaving”.
Tuafuti, Mohamed and Abusud were remanded in custody after NSW Police expressed fears they could flee the country if granted bail.
Victorian police will drive them to Albury on Friday, where their charges will be formally filed with a NSW court.
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Lachlan Abbott is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email.From our partners
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