Police believe that the people arrested in Sydney’s south-west are being used as criminal contractors who are “willing to do the dirty work for organised crime”.
Police said for the past 14 days, Strike Force Flodine had been investigating “contract criminals” and their network of “kill cars” around Sydney.
Detective Superintendent Peter Faux attributes the investigation to the interception of a “kill squad” that was headed for a childcare centre in Sydney’s south-west on Tuesday.
“One of the vehicles that was used in Tuesday’s incident was one of those cars that we were focusing on,” he said.
Yesterday, police carried out nine search warrants targeting a group of alleged G7 members who were believed to be using stolen cars to carry out contracts for organised crime networks.
“One of the vehicles that we seized yesterday had a kidnapping kit in it”
The kit allegedly contained a sledgehammer, baseball bat, pillow cases, gloves and gaffer tape.
Faux claimed these people are “willing to do the dirty work for organised crime” and have “the same blood on their hands” as the people they’re working for.
“The G7 crew is one of several groups of contract criminals allegedly using these cars,” police said in a release.
“It’s clear that these stage cars are being used for crimes of violence,” Faux said.
He said that the criminal contractors are “very siloed” and typically don’t know how the motor vehicles they’re staging are being used.
“They have transitioned to not necessarily carry out the crimes of violence themselves, but having these criminal contractors who have no association or links to the intended victims to distance themselves from the actual crime”
From 6am, police executed eight search warrants in Sydney’s south-west.
In Oran Park, police arrested two men, aged 18 and 21.
They were charged with multiple offences, including participating in a criminal group.
They were refused bail and will appear in court today.
Police also arrested a 16-year-old boy in Hinchinbrook.
He was charged with multiple offences, including driving a stolen car and participating in a criminal group.
He was also refused bail and will appear in a children’s court today.
In the raids, police also seized five cars, a gun, ammunition, $41,000 in cash, GPS trackers, and 37 mobile phones and encrypted devices.
The vehicles were staged in multiple areas predominantly across Sydney south-west, most contained jerry cans full of fuel, and one had a kidnap kit in the vehicle.
Indicators of a kill car include being parked in relatively remote locations and number plates not being on the vehicle for a short period of time before clone plates are later put on the vehicle.
