Two new arrests over shooting of former NRL star, alleged attacks on son

One man and five teenagers, including a 15-year-old, have been arrested over a spate of violent incidents allegedly targeting former NRL star Matt Utai’s son, Iziah, who police say is at the centre of an escalating gangland conflict between an emerging Sydney gang and the notorious Alameddine crime family.

Detectives from the newly formed Strike Force Halesowen on Thursday raided six properties in Riverwood, Guildford, Lilyfield, Villawood and Auburn, arresting two 19-year-old men, an 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old over the shooting of Utai and the firebombing and shooting of homes linked to his 24-year-old son.

Police also arrested a 25-year-old in Marsden Park and a 15-year-old boy in Emerton about 6.50pm on Friday over Utai’s shooting. The pair were taken to Mount Druitt police station and charged with Utai’s attempted murder, and for their involvement in an organised crime group.

The man was also charged with possessing prohibited drugs. They were both refused bail, and the man will appear before a bail court and the teenager will appear before a children’s court on Saturday.

Matt Utai, a member of the Canterbury Bulldogs’ premiership-winning side in 2004, was shot outside his Greenacre home in a “brazen ambush” on Tuesday morning.

Earlier on Thursday, detectives charged a 16-year-old boy with being an accessory after the fact to the attempted murder of Utai, who was shot in the chest and leg as he walked to his car parked outside the home he shares with his wife and children about 6am. Detectives are yet to speak with the 44-year-old, who remains in a coma, and has been moved to a different hospital from where he was initially treated.

The boy was also charged with supplying a pistol to a person not authorised to possess it and participating in a criminal group. Police will allege he helped Utai’s shooter conceal the pistol used in the attack. He was refused bail to appear in a children’s court on Friday.

Detectives also charged Khaldoun Khazma, 19, who they allege drove the gunman, who is yet to be arrested, from Utai’s house after the shooting. He was charged with being an accessory after the fact to Utai’s attempted murder and participating in a criminal group. Khazma did not apply for bail in Parramatta Local Court on Friday. He was remanded in custody to face the same court on February 24.

Police believe the teenagers were contracted to carry out the shootings and firebombing of Iziah Utai’s home and were working as part of a “criminal for hire group”.

Detectives believe Utai was targeted because of his son’s alleged involvement with the self-proclaimed Coconut Cartel, a “violent criminal organisation” that has been engaged in an increasingly violent feud over control of Sydney’s lucrative drug market.

Less than 24 hours after his father was shot, Iziah Utai’s Guildford West home was set alight, while a St Clair property linked to him was sprayed with bullets.

A video circulated throughout Sydney’s underworld and published by SCN Worldstar shows a person setting the front of the Guildford West property alight.

“F— him and the Coconut Cartel … this is the start of the destruction,” a person says in the video.

In December, several shots were fired at the same home. Two women and a child were inside at the time but were uninjured. Last May, Iziah Utai’s Merrylands barbershop was firebombed twice in two days.

Detectives on Thursday also arrested Mohamad Hussein, 18, and Issa Rijab, 19, over the fire, charging both with damaging property and participating in a criminal group. Hussein was granted conditional police bail to appear in Bankstown Local Court on March 10.

Rijab was also charged with drug supply offences related to a kilogram of cocaine allegedly found at his Villawood home. He was refused police bail to appear in Bankstown Local Court on Friday.

On Friday, Rijab asked to be released on bail – his lawyer cited his young age, risk of institutionalisation and police co-operation as reasons he should be released. But he was refused bail and ordered to front Burwood Local Court on April 19.

No arrests have been made over the St Clair shooting. Video published by SCN Worldstar shows several shots being fired at the front of the Menzies Circuit home from a high-powered rifle.

Police are still hunting a third person involved in the firebombing of Iziah Utai’s home, Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy, the acting commander of NSW Police’s Raptor Squad, said.

Iziah Utai left Australia shortly after senior underworld figure Dawood Zakaria was killed in a botched assassination attempt on one of his associates in May, and is believed to be residing overseas. A warrant for Iziah Utai’s arrest in relation to Zakaria’s murder has been issued.

Police allegedly seized three vehicles, knuckle dusters, electronic devices and items of clothing during Thursday’s raids.

The Coconut Cartel has emerged as the main rival of the Alameddine crime family, which police have long alleged controls Sydney’s illicit drug market. The Coconut Cartel is believed to be comprised of young men, including many of Pacific Islander descent, who have defected from the Alameddine network as it has fractured over several years.

Utai’s shooting and the targeting of homes linked to his son marked the most significant escalation of the conflict and sparked the establishment of Strike Force Halesowen, a 100-strong police taskforce to quell the violent feud.

The conflict between the two groups has been escalating since the splintering of the Alameddine network after several senior members defected from the group to form their own rival crime syndicate.

The defections sparked a gangland war and a series of retaliatory shootings in which several people were injured or killed. Police have not publicly linked that conflict to the current feud between the Alameddine network and the Coconut Cartel.

“It’s extremely serious,” Abdy said.

“We’ve seen one man shot, we’ve seen a house firebombed, and we’ve seen the shooting of another house.”

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