Sirens wailed through the streets of Sydney’s west as two of the city’s warring gangs traded bullets and petrol bombs following the brutal shooting of former NRL star Matt Utai. Now court documents reveal how one alleged arson crew contributed to the mayhem.
Court documents obtained by the Herald allege that less than 24 hours after the Bulldogs premiership player was nearly killed outside his Greenacre home, unemployed teenagers Issa Rijab and Mohamad Hussein were filling 10-litre jerry cans with fuel at a Granville service station at 2am on February 18.
Police suspect Rijab, 19, and Hussein, 18, were criminals for hire, that evening drafted by the notorious Alameddine crime network into a day of attacks, as had those who allegedly carried out the Utai’s shooting.
Rijab and Hussein allegedly drove their Holden Rodeo ute to the Terry Lamb Complex, a sporting field named after another Bulldogs great, and handed the cans of fuel to an unknown third male.
Just before 6am, a black BMW rumbled into the driveway of a home on Hunt Street, in Guildford West.
The unknown male emerged and emptied the jerry cans onto the walls and balcony of the Hunt Street home before taking out his phone and recording.
“This is Izzy Utai’s house, f*** him and the Coconut Cartel,” the masked male says.
“F***ing start of the destruction, brother.”
The masked male then lights the fuel and flees, running around the corner to the Holden Rodeo allegedly driven by Rijab and Hussein.
The masked arsonist allegedly filmed out the rear passenger window of the Rodeo as they drove past the home – both the house and the BMW were engulfed in flames.
The video was published online by SCN Worldstar, along with footage of another shooting that night where a gunman opened fire into a home at St Clair owned by the Utais.
“F— you and the Coconut Cartel,” one man yelled before more than a dozen shots were fired on camera. A woman inside was uninjured.
Their getaway car was torched at Colyton a short time later.
Police allege each attack was retaliation against Iziah Utai – a former Alameddine gangster who had patched over to the Coconut Cartel.
The Coconut Cartel allegedly torched an Alameddine car in North Rocks, in an apparent attempt to fight back that same evening.
Iziah, also known as Ziggy, is believed to be offshore and wanted over the shooting murder of an Alameddine bodyguard.
The two groups had been bombing each other’s homes and businesses for months, but the violence escalated last Tuesday when Matt Utai was shot in his driveway.
Bullets had glanced off a ute parked in front of his Greenacre home, but two found their mark and struck him in the leg and chest.
NSW Police Raptor squad, the anti-gang specialists, formed Strike Force Halesowen to end the tit-for-tat.
By Thursday, as Utai still lay unconscious in his hospital bed, Raptor were rounding up six alleged Alameddine mercenaries behind the attacks.
Detective Acting Superintendent Brad Abdy said each crew “may be acting independently of each other, with a common criminal goal”.
Raptor allegedly tracked the Holden Rodeo to Hussein’s address on February 19 before moving on to Rijab’s home on Belar Avenue in Villawood.
Rijab allegedly threw a white plastic bag over his rear fence as the officers knocked on his door, court documents say.
Police walked into the neighbour’s yard and found the bag – inside was a 1.1 kilogram brick of compressed cocaine and scales.
An unlocked safe in Rijab’s home allegedly contained another 74 grams. He made full admissions and handed over his phone pin codes, the documents say.
Rijab was charged with damaging property by fire, supplying a large commercial quantity of drugs and participating in a criminal group.
He was refused bail and will reappear in court in April.
Police are still searching for the crew which shot up the St Clair home.
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