‘Significant persons of interest’: Victorians linked to gun used in killing of Sydney student

Four Melburnians have been charged after being extradited to NSW over alleged links to the gun used in the 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 notorious Alameddine crime family in a recent spate of violence against the so-called Coconut Cartel.

The group were driven across the border on Friday, where they were handed over to NSW Police and arrested at Albury police station.

They were all charged with special aggravated break and enter committing a serious and indictable offence, two counts of firing a gun at a home, and organising and partaking in criminal activity.

The adults were refused bail to appear in bail court on Saturday. The 16-year-old will appear at a children’s court on Saturday.

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 over the incident early on Thursday. The pair did not apply for bail and were remanded in custody to face court again on November 13.

The four Victorians mentioned in court have not been charged over Tapia’s death but are accused of a home invasion in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville, and shooting cars in Turrella the night before.

Ballistic analysis found discharged cartridge cases at the two scenes matched and were then “positively matched” 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.”

NSW Police Raptor Squad commander Brad Abdy said the gun allegedly used at Hurstville and Turrella was found at the Glen Alpine crime scene but the investigation of Tapia’s death is “extremely complex”, and homicide detectives are still working to determine if the Melburnians can be charged with his murder.

“It’s very important that all the evidence is examined before people are charged obviously with a very serious offence of murder,” Abdy said on Friday.

“These people are obviously significant persons of interest.”

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 reveal Mohamed, Tuafuti, the 16-year-old child and an unknown fourth person are accused of breaking into a home in Hurstville about 2am on August 31. No one was at 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 Raptor Squad officer said the four Victorians 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.

Abdy said the interstate, interagency co-operation that secured the arrests should act as a deterrent to those who think they can get away with crimes in one state by fleeing to another.

“Criminals can’t come interstate, commit offences, run away and hide back in their states and think they’re going to avoid detection and prosecution for their crimes,” he said.

“People who are overseas tasking criminals in Australia to commit these types of offences can’t use our borders as a means of protection from prosecution and identification.”

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