Five charged over alleged kidnapping of Ay Huncho
Updated ,first published
A Sydney rapper’s bodyguard staggered out of his underworld safe house with his hands tied with cable, his jaw broken and his head still covered by a bag as he fled police in the latest “extremely violent” attack on the Alameddine crime family.
It was alleged at the hearing on Wednesday that Emilio Chalhoub, 32, was abducted from his family’s home in Guildford on Monday night by a group of balaclavas aged between 15 and 22.
Liverpool Local Court heard the group allegedly kidnapped Chalhoub with a machine gun and put him in a car.
The incident triggered a massive police operation, including a PolAir helicopter and dog squads, that led detectives to a safe house off the Hume Highway in Casula.
Police noticed the masked men and their stolen car entering the garage of a small brick house and surrounded the property.
The men fled into neighboring gardens as the helicopter and police officers on the ground caught up with them.
Chalhoub emerged “tied with cable ties, with a bag over his head”, with a suspected broken jaw and nose, and wounds on the back of his head and body.
Chalhoub is the bodyguard of rapper Ali Younes, aka Ay Huncho, an alleged senior member of the Alameddine organized crime network. Last year Chalhoub was the intended target of an attack on his home in Guildford; His 62-year-old father had allegedly been stabbed by two intruders – a 15-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man – at the height of an infighting within the splinter Alameddine network.
Luke Manuatu, 22, Anaru Warren, 22, Hikairo Mohi, 21, Harley Sorbello, 21, and a 15-year-old boy were charged with a string of offenses following Chalhoub’s abduction and appeared in court via video link on Wednesday.
These include kidnapping and causing actual bodily harm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, wearing a face mask with intent to commit a crime, using fire to cause property damage of more than $5,000, and aggravated use of an armed vehicle.
Some charges carry a maximum prison sentence of twenty years for those found guilty.
A police prosecutor told Liverpool Local Court their case was “strong and growing stronger” as forensic evidence was recovered from a baseball bat and firearm.
The men had ambitiously requested bail, but Sorbello had already breached a court order and had a criminal history that included knives, drug dealing, dishonesty and failing to appear in court.
Two of the men, including Mohi, are fathers of young children.
Judge Andrew Miller refused each bail request, saying the allegations amounted to “excessive and wanton violence”. The men will remain in custody until their next hearing in June.
Forensic officers also examined Chalhoub’s burned-out car, which was found in Villawood, and a hatchback police believe was used to drive him to the Casula property.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said detectives had had “great success” in targeting organized crime within Taskforce Falcon, which was set up last year amid a spiral of violence linked to the dismantling of the Alameddine network, while facing a “different organized crime environment”.
Lanyon told 2GB on Wednesday morning: “We’re seeing young people predominantly contracting online to engage in very serious criminal activity, whether it’s murder, kidnapping, drive-by shooting – that’s why we’re making such a concerted effort as a police force.”
“The fact that this is so brazen is why we take it so seriously, why we scale it up and why we have such a specific approach to organized crime.”
Younes, a cousin of Rafat Alameddine, Alameddine’s Lebanon-based patriarch, is believed to have been the target of a thwarted attack in western Sydney earlier this month that resulted in the arrest of three men and the seizure of two firearms. Detectives repeatedly warned Younes and Chalhoub about threats to their safety.
Police are investigating whether the alleged kidnapping is related to the thwarted plot targeting Younes or ongoing conflicts involving the Alameddine network.
Former allies and emerging groups vying for control of Sydney’s underworld have been targeting Alameddine members and associates for the past 18 months. Several senior members who fled to the Middle East are alleged to have been involved in large-scale imports of cocaine and methamphetamine into Australia.
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Daniel Lo Surdo is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously ran The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age’s national news live blog.Connect via email.
