‘Deliberate’: Sydney home linked to Coconut Cartel firebombed for second time in months
The home of alleged Coconut Cartel associate Iziah Utai has been firebombed for the second time in four months, further heightening tensions in Sydney’s ongoing conflict with the underworld.
Emergency services were called to Hunt St in Guildford West shortly after 1.15am on Friday following reports of a house fire.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews arrived to find the property engulfed in flames and worked quickly to bring the fire under control.
The fire also engulfed the property and caused extensive damage.
The house was unoccupied at the time of the fire and police confirmed it had previously been the target of both an arson attack and drive-by shootings.
Detectives were told two people were seen on the property minutes before the fire broke out. Witnesses reported seeing the pair driving north along Lomond Street in a silver sedan.
It was the second time in four months that a house believed to be linked to Coconut Cartel associate Iziah Utai was firebombed.
Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command established a crime scene and found several empty fuel cans and gas bottles inside the building.
The latest attack comes amid a series of violent incidents targeting the Utai family.
Iziah Utai is the son of former NRL star Matt Utai, who was shot after leaving his Greenacre home earlier this year.
Iziah Utai is believed to be a former associate of the Alameddine crime family before switching allegiance to the Coconut Cartels. He is currently thought to be abroad.
Matt Utai has undergone several rounds of surgery. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Matt Utai.
In the days that followed, a house belonging to a relative of the Utai family in St Clair, in Sydney’s west, was sprayed with bullets and a property in Guildford West was firebombed.
Online crime account SCN Worldstar later posted a video of the firebombing on its social media account, featuring a voice saying “This is the beginning of destruction, brother.”
Footage of the latest attack, released on Friday morning, shows the Guildford West house completely burnt to the ground.
More to come
