December 2024 Crime report

Friday, 13 December 2024 07:18:55 AM

Man charged after police seize more than 70 firearms, weapons in Denistone East
A man will face court today after police seized more than 70 firearms and weapons in Sydney’s north west.
Following an investigation into alleged prohibited weapons and firearms, about 9am yesterday (Thursday 12 December 2024) officers attached to Ryde Police Area Command executed a search warrant at a house on Cecil Street, Denistone East, with the assistance of North West Metropolitan Region Operational Support Group.
Police searched the property and located a total of 27 firearms, 45 other prohibited weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
All items were seized for forensic examination.
A 41-year-old man was arrested at the scene and was taken to Gladesville Police Station.
He was charged with two counts of category C, D or H licensee not comply with storage needs, two counts of holder of Category A or B licence not have approved storage, possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit, intentionally import prohibited tier 1 goods and intentionally import prohibited tier 2 goods.
He was refused bail to appear before Burwood Local Court today (Friday 13 December 2024).

CRIME REPORT RYDE DISTRICT 

April - June 2024

March 2024 - Crime Report

February 2024 - Crime Report

Shopping scams are big business for cyber criminals. How big? According to a recent report by the ACCC, the reported losses from online shopping scams in Australia were well over $4 million each year.

Scammers often try to take advantage of busy times, such as people catching the latest sales. Commonly targeted items include shoes, smartphones and other electronic goods.

One of the ways they do this is by creating fake websites, where they advertise goods and services which are poor quality or unsafe, or goods that will never be delivered.

To get attention, they’ll often advertise with images of well-known products at much cheaper prices than usual, luring customers to go to their site.

These scammers will often advertise their websites on social media platforms, especially Facebook, so they’ll be seen and shared by a vast majority of people. It’s also quite common for scammers to send out a link to the site through phishing emails.

Once you make a ‘purchase’ on the website, the scammers will use your personal information and card details you enter which can then be used to steal money or commit identity theft.

Chances are you’ll never receive the item you bought or, if you do, it will be of very poor quality or broken.

Protect yourself. Never pay for anything online via a bank or wire transfer. Only pay through a secure method such as a credit card or PayPal. For example, if you’re using eBay and the domain name is anything other than ebay.com.au, it’s fake.

Check for a green secure padlock in the address bar. Any secure payment site should have this. This way your payment is protected. If the seller takes you to a separate website for payment, check the URL in the address bar.

Make sure you read the website’s terms and conditions regarding payments to see if and how your purchase is protected.

Warning signs

The scam email or message you received may pretend to be from a large organisation you trust to make the scam more believable. You should be suspicious of the email or message if it was:

• Unexpected or

• pressures you into taking urgent action, for example, urgently paying an invoice

• is sent from an address that seems irregular for the sender

• is an address that the sender hasn’t used in previous messages to you

• is not addressed to you personally

• has poor spelling or grammar

• is inconsistent with other messages you have received from the sender

• has payment details that are different from previous emails from the sender.

Friday 12 January 2024 - Crime Report

About 7pm on Saturday the 6th of January 2024, a 52-year-old male exposed himself to a

number of adults and children the common area of short-term accommodation.

Police located the male a short distance from scene. The male was searched, and a box

cutter knife was located in his possession.

The male was charged with ‘Wilful and obscene exposure in/near public place; Custody of

knife in public place (1st offence); Intentionally do sexual act with child >10yrs & <16yrs.’

He was bail refused, appearing before Burwood Local Court on Monday 08 January 2024.

About 12:30pm Wednesday the 10th of January 2024 a 12-year-old female entered the

change room of the Cotton On Mega Store, Macquarie Centre. A male followed her into the

change room and entered the stall next to her. The male placed his mobile phone over the

top of the shared stall wall and began recording the young female. The female noticed the

mobile phone, exited the stall and confronted the male, who abruptly exited the change

rooms and store.

The male is described as Caucasian appearance, between the ages of 35-40, about 180cm

tall with a medium build, bald head, with a brown coloured beard and wearing a blue

coloured "Calvin Klein" branded t-shirt, long black tracksuit style pants, and brown thongs,

carrying a white tote style bag.

Anyone with information that may assist police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800

333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence.

The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.

At the end of November 2023, a 68-year-old male met someone on Facebook claiming to be

a 36-year-old female, investment expert. The conversation moved to the mobile messenger

application ‘WhatsApp’.

The female told the male that her company installed data analysis software for a share

trading company based out of Singapore. The female told the male that when reviewing the

data from the software, she observed “above-average” profits. The female sent the male a

report which showed the company returned a minimum 10-15% profit on every investment.

The female asked the 68-year-old male if he would like to join in their investment success.

The male was initially hesitant to participate, having previously been defrauded a

substantial amount of money. The female finally convinced the male to participate, and the

male invested approximately $20,000.

The following week the female offered to lend the male money to allow him to keep

investing after suffering a loss the week before. The female instructed the male to transfer

the money into a third-party account.

Eventually, when the male attempted to withdraw money from the investment platform, he

was denied access. When the male questioned the female about this, he was accused of

money laundering, the female referring to the transferring of funds into the third-party

account.

The male was asked to deposit a security bond to re-access his account. When the male told

the female he was unable to do so the male was threatened with action by the company’s

legal team.

*If the scam originates in NSW, you can report this to the NSW Police Force by visiting your

local police station or calling the Police Assistance Line on 131 444. Reports can also be

made to the Australian Cyber Security Centre at www.cyber.gov.au*

Two men charged following an investigation into alleged murder plot by contracted

criminal cell. State Crime Command detectives have charged two men, executed four search warrants, and foiled an alleged murder plot as part of inquiries under Strike Force Tromperie, Strike Force Veil and Strike Force Ballyana.

In December 2022, State Crime Command’s Organised Crime Squad – together with the

NSW Crime Commission – established Strike Force Tromperie to investigate the activities of

an international criminal syndicate hailing from Lebanon.

To date, 28 people have been charged for organised crime related offences and remain

before the courts. During inquiries under Strike Force Tromperie, detectives identified a 26-year-old man was allegedly coordinating an off-shoot criminal cell who were taking on contract work – sometimes from rival criminal networks – to carry out serious and violent crime such as murders and kidnappings on their behalf.

Police will allege in court the criminal cell were conspiring to murder four high-profile men

from Sydney’s north-west on behalf of another network.

Police will also allege the group were linked to a kidnapping in March 2023, and an alleged

attempted kidnapping over a 722kg importation of cocaine seized by police in Ryde, which

State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad investigated under Strike Force

Ballyana and Strike Force Veil.

Anti-social behaviour has been the focus this summer, as police aim to keep Sydney’s public

transport network safe this holiday season.

The Police Transport and Public Safety Command (PT&PS) – with the assistance of Sydney

Trains – have launched Operation Rampart; a proactive and high-impact operation focussing

on reducing crime on the public transport network.

The three-month operation commenced on Monday 27 November 2023 and will run until

Friday 16 February 2024 and will specifically target issues such as general anti-social

behaviour, assaults, property offences, and buffer riding.

PT&PSC Southwest Commander, Superintendent Mark Wall, said the operation has been

allocated substantial resources as transport safety remains an area of major concern.

“The PT&PS Command and Sydney Trains have entered into an agreement that saw the

commencement of both Operation Rampart and the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP).

“The EEP provides additional funded shifts designed for officers tasked to patrol the railway

lines and particularly target those committing buffer riding offences.

“The message is simple; don’t put your life at risk trying to impress your friends, or with the

goal of getting ‘views’ on social media,” Superintendent Mark Wall said.

Transport for NSW Secretary, Josh Murray said “Last year we saw 27 incidents of people

‘buffer riding’ or ‘roof riding’ on our light rail vehicles. This is far from harmless fun, or

content for a social media reel – it puts the safety of passengers, staff and the person

themselves at serious risk,”

“People who hold onto the light rail while on a bike or scooter are duelling with danger.

Despite their name, light rail vehicles weigh a minimum of 40 tonnes when empty, so are

anything but light, if the  tram comes into contact with a person, bike, scooter or skateboard.”

“Warning signs against buffer riding are installed on light rail vehicles for a reason – people

breaking the rules can easily fall and suffer serious injuries or die, and those climbing on the

vehicles run high risk of electrocution.”

Sydney Trains Head of Security and Intelligence, Jess Sharpe said “Anti-social behaviour and

buffer riding cause huge delays to the rail network preventing passengers from getting to

work or home in a timely way. So far this year anti-social behaviour caused, nearly 11-

thousand minutes in delays that equates to nearly 8 days’ worth of delays. And incidents of

trespassing into the rail corridor have cause 24 days’ worth of delays on the network in the

past year.”

“We work closely with the Police Transport Command to target and deter anti-social

behaviour as well as criminal behaviour and provide CCTV footage to help identify any risk

takers.”

“We have seen a rise in buffer riding incidents during the school holidays. Our trains

weigh 400 tonnes and travel up to 110km/h. This is an extremely dangerous thing to do.

People risk being seriously injured or killed all for a silly thrill. It is not worth it.”

“The impact these stupid acts have on our staff cannot be put into words. They are very

traumatic at the very least.”

 Friday 05 January 2024 - Crime Report

Operation New Year’s Eve 2023 commenced Sunday 31 December 2023, to ensure safety as

significant crowds converged on the CBD, Sydney Harbour foreshore and at events across

the state.

General duties officers from multiple police area commands and districts across the state were assisted by Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Police Transport Command, the

Public Order and Riot Squad, Operations Support Group, Licensing Police, Mounted and Dog

Command, Marine Area Command, and PolAir.

Over 225,000 people took advantage of the vantage points around the harbour foreshore throughout the afternoon and evening to enjoy the 9pm and midnight fireworks displays.

Across the CBD and Sydney Harbour foreshore, 19 arrests were made for various offences, including assault and drug offences.

Operation New Year’s Eve 2023 Commander, Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke, said most members of the public were well behaved throughout the evening.

A man has died following a fire in a Meadowbank unit.

About 3.30pm Monday 1 January 2024, emergency services were called to a unit block on Angas Street, Meadowbank, following reports of a unit alight. Officers attached to Ryde Police Area Command attended and evacuated the building.

Fire and Rescue NSW extinguished the blaze, located on the top floor of the building, a short time later.

A 45-year-old man, located inside the unit, was treated on the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics for significant injuries.

He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition, where he later died.

An investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the fire; however, the cause is not yet known. A report will be prepared for the Coroner.

Alleged gunman charged over fatal shooting of Alen Moradian -

Task Force Magnus detectives have charged three men for their alleged involvement in the criminal enterprise responsible for the fatal shooting of Alen Moradian – including the man who allegedly pulled the trigger.

About 8.30am on Tuesday 27 June 2023, emergency services were called to Spring Street in Bondi Junction, following reports a man had been shot while sitting in a stationary vehicle in

an underground carpark.

The man – who died at the scene – has since been identified as 48-year-old Alen Moradian. A short time later, police located a burnt-out Porsche nearby in Bondi Junction and a burnt-out Holden Cruze in Zetland.

Three crime scenes were subsequently established and forensically examined by specialist police. Officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command – with assistance from State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad – commenced inquiries before the matter was taken carriage of by Task Force Magnus under Strike Force Parachuter.

Task Force Magnus was established in July as a policing strategy to target and disrupt gun-related and violent crime, and to investigate links between recent organised criminal activity

in Sydney – including the fatal shooting of Alen Moradian.

Following extensive inquiries, about 8.40pm Tuesday 2 January 2024, task force detectives – with assistance from Raptor Squad – attended an address in Macquarie Park where they arrested two men, aged 27 and 28.

During a number of search warrants in Macquarie Park, officers seized 1.5kg of cocaine, 844 grams of Methylamphetamine, three DECCDs, and a pistol with 23 rounds of ammunition.

The men were taken to Gladesville Police Station, where the younger man was charged with eight firearm and drug related offences and participating in a criminal group.

The 28-year-old man was charged with drug-related offences and participating in a criminal group.

Both men were refused bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

About 3.50am Wednesday 03 January 2024, task force detectives – with assistance from Tactical Operations Unit – attended an address in Fairfield Heights, where they arrested a 24-year-old man. He was taken to Fairfield Police Station where he was charged with five offences including murder, drug and firearm related offences, and participating in a criminal group.

He was refused bail to appear before Parramatta Local Court.

Police will allege in court the 24-year-old man was the principal offender – or gunman – in the murder of Alen Moradian.

Police concerned by dangerous driving over festive period

Police are urging the community to think of others on the road after a significant number of dangerous driving incidents across the State during the road safety enforcement operation

over the festive season.

Operation Christmas/New Year 2023 commenced at 12.00am Friday 22 December 2023 and concluded at 11.59pm on Monday 1 January 2024. Double demerit points were in force for the duration of the operation for speeding, mobile phone, seatbelt, and motorcycle helmet offences.

The Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, together with local police, patrolled roads across the state, targeting dangerous driving behaviour and risks on the roads – with the aim of

preventing injury and death.

During the period, police saw a concerning number of dangerous driving incidents, including excessive speed, high-range drink-driving, and reckless driving.

Police issued 8069 speed infringements, laid 631 drink-driving charges and 1374 drug-driving charges, attended 740 major crashes, and conducted 342,102 breath tests.

Five people died in crashes over the period, three fewer than during the operation last year.

Learned Behaviour - Know your limits

Not to Drink or take drugs and then Drive.

Solution: Plan B - No Driving if Alcohol or drugs consumed.