A third man – who is an associate of an alleged organised criminal network (OCN) – has been charged by the Criminal Groups Squad after a loaded firearm was recovered from the roof of a home in Sydney's south-west last month.
About 9.30pm on Saturday 21 May 2022, police attached to Taskforce Erebus executed a Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) search at a home on Waterloo Road, Greenacre.
During a subsequent search of the premises – assisted by PolAir – police located a loaded 9mm pistol secreted in a sock on the roof of the property, and an amount of cannabis.
Additionally, a 46-year-old man was arrested after he was found with 16 rounds of 9mm ammunition while he allegedly attempted to flee the home, while a second man, aged 44, was arrested at the scene.
The older man has since been convicted of possess prohibited drug and possess ammunition without a permit or licence, while the younger man remains before the courts.
Following further inquiries, officers attached to Raptor Highway Patrol and Operation Support Group (OSG) stopped a grey Toyota Kluger on Newton Road, Blacktown, just before 2pm yesterday (Tuesday 31 May 2022)
A 29-year-old man was arrested and taken to Blacktown Police Station.
A short time later, Criminal Groups Squad detectives, assisted by the Raptor Squad, executed a search warrant at a nearby unit, where they seized a number of items, which will undergo forensic examination.
The Blacktown man, who is an associate of an alleged OCN, was charged with possess unauthorised firearm and acquire etc pistol-subject to firearms prohibition order.
Police will allege in court that the man was in possession of the firearm when police arrived at the Waterloo Road property, and he threw the pistol on the roof.
He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court later today (Wednesday 1 June 2022).
Investigations and proactive operational activity under Taskforce Erebus are continuing,
Taskforce Erebus was established by the NSW Police Force, in partnership with the NSW Crime Commission, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and Australian Federal Police (AFP), to investigate a spate of recent murders and other serious organised crime.
The Taskforce is being led by State Crime Command (SCC) under the National Organised Crime Response Plan and includes detectives, analysts, and other resources as part of a bolstered multi-agency response.
Anyone with information that may assist Taskforce Erebus is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.
