An alleged high-ranking Australian criminal figure has been arrested in a dramatic dawn raid on his exclusive multimillion-dollar Sydney apartment.
Mohamad Alameddine, 40, was arrested after police found wads of cash and a mobile phone hidden in fire extinguishers at the complex.
Police initially went to his three-bedroom downtown penthouse on April 9 to conduct a firearms ban compliance check, but found nothing illegal inside the unit.
Footage showed officers kicking in the apartment door demanding the owner open the door with a colleague standing nearby holding a battering ram.
Mohamad Alameddine (pictured) was arrested after police found wads of cash and a mobile phone hidden in fire extinguisher cabinets.
The door was then opened from the inside before the police entered. Alameddine was seen wearing a bathrobe and leaning against a wall.
Police allegedly found $13,000 in a nearby fire extinguisher cabinet and a mobile phone in another, which were seized for forensic testing.
Detectives allege DNA evidence linked the money and phone to Alameddine, who is an associate of the Comanchero motorcycle gang, and returned to his apartment at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to arrest him.
Alameddine was taken to Day St police station in the CBD and charged with two counts of contravening a serious crime prevention order and failing to comply with an access to digital evidence order in relation to the phone.
His arrest is part of an operation targeting suspected criminals using firearms prohibition enforcement orders.
“These operations are so that those who are in this environment know that we are watching them,” a senior officer told the Daily Telegraph.
“Some of these people are also potential execution targets, so having us hanging around where they live lets their enemies know that if they try anything, there’s a risk we won’t be far away.”
Alameddine reportedly recently moved to the CBD from south-west Sydney because he feared for his life amid rising tensions in the criminal underworld.
Police found $13,000 (pictured) in a nearby fire extinguisher cabinet and a mobile phone in another, which were seized for forensic testing.
Mohamad Alameddine (left) is pictured after being arrested at his penthouse in Sydney.
Those tensions have increased since June 2023, when crime boss Alen Moradian was executed in Bondi Junction.
There is no suggestion that Alameddine is in any way connected to the Moradian murder.
Under crime prevention orders, his movements are restricted and he has to tell police where he lives and what mobile phone and car he uses.
Alameddine, who is not related to the notorious Sydney crime family of the same name, is expected to appear at Downing Center Local Court on Wednesday.