Teenager charged over botched assassination at Sydney school pick-up

Police have charged a Sydney teenager with orchestrating a botched plot to kill a relative of the notorious Alameddine crime family while he collected his 15-year-old daughter from a school in the city’s south-west.

The father, 44, and his daughter were sitting in a ute outside the school about 3pm on June 9 when a gunman tried to open fire on the vehicle, but escaped when the assailant’s weapon jammed. Nearby CCTV captured the pair escaping uninjured on foot as the gunman fled.

This masthead previously revealed the target was related to Mohamed Alameddine, a rising NSW Cup star contracted to the Parramatta Eels who was sidelined shortly after the botched assassination attempt over fears for his and his teammates’ safety.

Neither Mohamed Alameddine nor his relatives are involved in organised crime or accused of any wrongdoing. Detectives believe his relatives were targeted because of their relation to the Alameddine crime family, which has been the subject of sustained attacks from rival group, the Coconut Cartel.

On Wednesday, detectives working under Taskforce Falcon arrested David Kulitapa, 19, an alleged Coconut Cartel associate, during a traffic stop at Sans Souci, in Sydney’s south.

He was charged with two counts of attempting to shoot a person with intent to murder, installing and using a tracking device to find an object, possessing or using a banned weapon without a permit, dealing prohibited drugs, knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group, and supplying a prohibited drug greater than a small quantity.

Detectives allege Kulitapa co-ordinated the botched plot and surveilled the target before the assassination attempt. He was refused police bail and was expected to appear in Sutherland Local Court on Thursday.

The Coconut Cartel has claimed credit for a series of attacks on the Alameddine family, including shootings and firebombings, since declaring war on it in January.