Inside a brown paper shopping bag, the package sat innocuously next to the flying fox and the slide at a playground in Sydney’s outer suburban ring.
Watched over by Houssam Khoder Agha, the man police claim dropped it off, the package sat for just 60 seconds before its intended recipient swooped into the quiet, tree-lined Locke Park in Wetherill Park to collect what police say was inside – a kilogram of cocaine.
Scene of August’s “dead drop” – Locke Park in Wetherill Park.Credit: Google Street View
Khoder Agha, 26, wasn’t the only one observing as hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine sat, seemingly abandoned, at the play equipment.
Police say they were also watching as an associate collected the shopping bag and then got back into his silver Toyota Hilux. They then tracked the man for four kilometres to Smithfield, where officers pulled him over, allegedly finding the package sitting in plain view on the ute’s back seat.
Investigators say so-called “dead drops” like this one in August were typical of “The Commission”, a group of Sydney men allegedly controlling the supply and price of the city’s cocaine and using parks, reserves, streets and commercial car parks across the city.
Allegedly co-ordinated by Bankstown man Jibreel Bakir, investigators say the practice led to extraordinary paydays for the group that allegedly sat atop Sydney’s cocaine food chain.
Police allege the criminal gang handled $27,200,430 in criminal proceeds.Credit: NSW Police
Bakir’s 26-year-old brother Laith, and Glenfield man Akrom Hamzy, 27, “were responsible for storing bulk quantities of cocaine at their residential addresses”, the police documents say. Directed by Jibreel Bakir, the duo allegedly distributed the cocaine to the syndicate’s two alleged runners – 21-year-old Khalid Mohamed and Khoder Agha, police claim.
A sixth man, 34-year-old Duy Phuong Nguyen of Villawood, was allegedly responsible for laundering the group’s eye-watering profits.
One week in April, Mohamed was allegedly paid $14,343,790 in cash. On another occasion, he was allegedly given $1.43 million in cash.
“In total, between 22 April and 24 July 2024, Jibreel Bakir and Mohamed dealt with $27,200,430 in proceeds of crime,” the documents allege.
Police say drugs were hidden inside members’ homes.Credit: NSW Police
Things ended abruptly for Mohamed in July this year, when he was allegedly caught supplying cocaine via a dead drop at a park in Guildford.
Police say his Audi, parked nearby, contained 12 one-kilogram bricks of cocaine and $15,000 in cash. He was charged with the commercial supply of drugs, and he remains bail-refused and before the courts.
More arrests soon followed.
Last week, investigators picked up the five other alleged syndicate members in dawn raids across the city. All five remain bail-refused before the courts on a raft of charges.
Police Commissioner Karen Webb celebrated the busts, branding the group who had allegedly supplied $1.8 billion worth of cocaine in four months as “allegedly one of the most dangerous and destructive groups Sydney has seen to date”.
“The supply of cocaine to Sydney has continued to poison this city for years and has fuelled and funded the organised tit-for-tat violence police see today,” she told reporters.
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