Four teenagers charged over Sydney attacks linked to organised crime conflict
Sydney: Four teenagers have been arrested and charged over a spate of shootings and arson attacks across western Sydney linked to an organised crime conflict.
The police force in the state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Friday that the four males, aged 16, 18 and two 19-year-olds, were arrested by officers executing search warrants at six western Sydney properties on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
It comes after the NSW Police Force on Wednesday established a strike force to investigate three shooting and arson attacks in western Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday that investigators believe were linked to an organised crime conflict and targeted the same family.
A 44-year-old man was hospitalised with serious injuries after he was shot multiple times in the first attack on Tuesday morning, but nobody else was injured in the subsequent incidents.
Strike force officers executing the warrants on Thursday seized 1 kg of cocaine, three vehicles, electronic devices and clothes relevant to their investigation.
The 16-year-old boy and one of the 19-year-old men were charged with offenses relating to the shooting of the 44-year-old.
It will be alleged in court that the 19-year-old picked up the gunman involved in the shooting after the attack and that the 16-year-old was involved in supplying the firearm.
The other 19-year-old and 18-year-old were both charged over the firebombing of a property in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The second 19-year-old was also charged with drug trafficking offenses relating to the seized cocaine.
Police said that the strike force was continuing to investigate the incidents.