A businessman accused of being “well entrenched” in Sydney’s underworld allegedly lied about his earnings to secure a multi-million-dollar home loan, a court has heard.<\/p>\n
Ali Jundi, 35, was one of nine people arrested by Taskforce Falcon in an operation targeting associates of the “Afghan crew” this week.<\/p>\n
Police believe the “Afghan crew” are a new organised crime network who are offering to commit acts of public violence for large sums of money.<\/p>\n
Strike Force Kersley under Taskforce Falcon has been quietly investigating the group as part of a wider probe into the fracturing Alameddine crime family.<\/p>\n
The Alameddines operate an organised crime network out of Western Sydney, but its senior leaders have fled to Lebanon in recent years.<\/p>\n
Police believe an internal war within the Alameddines has been playing out on the city’s streets over the past year and is responsible for a surge in gangland violence.<\/p>\n
Luxury cars seized<\/p>\n
Mr Jundi was arrested at his Georges Hall home on Tuesday where police and the NSW Crime Commission seized a series of cars.<\/p>\n
These included a $600,000 Rolls-Royce, a $600,000 Lamborghini and a BMW worth $300,000.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A number of high-end cars were seized by police. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n
The Crime Commission has also commenced unexplained wealth proceedings in an attempt to claw back $12.4 million from Mr Jundi, which they allege is the proceeds of crime.<\/p>\n
Police allege in court documents that Strike Force Kersley uncovered that Mr Jundi is “well entrenched in the Afghan crew”.<\/p>\n
Strike Force Kersley’s investigation has been kept secret from the public and its existence only recently came to light as police attempted to cool underworld hostilities.<\/p>\n
Mr Jundi is facing three charges each of supplying a commercial quantity of drugs and dishonestly obtaining advantage by deception.<\/p>\n
Police have also charged him with two counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, five of possessing drugs and one of giving false information in a digital access order.<\/p>\n
Bankstown Local Court heard on Wednesday that police allege Mr Jundi lied about the income of his company to secure a multi-million-dollar home loan.<\/p>\n
The ABC is unable to name the company for legal reasons.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police allegedly seized cash during the raids. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n
Bail granted<\/p>\n
In applying for bail, Mr Jundi’s legal team of Philip Strickland, SC, and Sam Saadat argued there was “no evidence” he lied about his earnings of $233,000 to secure the loan.<\/p>\n
Mr Jundi offered $500,000 as a surety to secure his release on bail and agreed not to contact six figures connected to the “Afghan crew”.<\/p>\n
Police alleged in court Mr Jundi had allowed members of the “Afghan crew” to use cars from a luxury vehicle hire company he owns.<\/p>\n
“He will not associate with any associate of this Afghan group,” Mr Strickland said.<\/p>\n
“We don’t accept he is a member of any [Afghan crew]”.<\/p>\n
Police argued in court Mr Jundi was a “man of means” which could allow him to interfere with witnesses.<\/p>\n
Magistrate Breton granted him bail under several conditions, including limits to his access to encrypted apps.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Strike Force Kersley under Taskforce Falcon has been quietly investigating as part of a wider probe into the fracturing Alameddine crime family. (Supplied: NSW Police)<\/p>\n
‘Living a dual life’<\/p>\n
Another person arrested this week as part of the investigation was 22-year-old Ahmed Ghamwari, who was charged with possessing a pistol and commercial drug supply.<\/p>\n
Bankstown Local Court was told on Tuesday police found a video of him on his phone with the weapon.<\/p>\n
His legal team of Troy Edwards, SC, and Melissa Huseyin argued the gun was a replica and that he needed to be released on bail to care for his mother.<\/p>\n
“[He is] living a dual life which his mum did not know,” Magistrate Breton said.<\/p>\n
“His mum is either being deceived deliberately or he’s managed to hide himself in the shadows and not raise her suspicions.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He was refused bail to reappear back in the same court next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A businessman accused of being “well entrenched” in Sydney’s underworld allegedly lied about his earnings to secure a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":421599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[196848,196850,196844,196843,196842,4740,37635,419,4219,196845,1230,196841,13925,13089,2089,50,196849,196846,13048,196847],"class_list":{"0":"post-421598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-afghan-crew","9":"tag-ahmed-ghamwari","10":"tag-alameddine","11":"tag-ali-jundi","12":"tag-allegedly-lied","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-bail","15":"tag-cars","16":"tag-crime","17":"tag-crime-family","18":"tag-drugs","19":"tag-granted","20":"tag-home-loan","21":"tag-luxury","22":"tag-man","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-seized","25":"tag-strike-force-kersley","26":"tag-sydney","27":"tag-taskforce-falcon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115655173823622468","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}