NSW Police take fitted out ‘kill cars’ off the streets

Specially prepared “kill cars” have been seized by police across Sydney before they can be used in the next underworld assassination, kidnapping or drive-by shooting.

Fire and rescue attend a burnt out car that was connected to the shooting of Alen Moradian. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Specially prepared “kill cars” have been seized by police across Sydney before they can be used in the next underworld assassination, kidnapping or drive-by shooting.

More than 20 stolen vehicles – including six in the past two weeks – have been found parked and ready for use in suburbs including Berala, Bardia, Cartwright, St Marys, Penrith and Werrington by NSW Police Taskforce Magnus.

In those cars have been petrol-filled jerry cans, balaclavas and gloves, and fake number plates key elements of an underworld hit.

The incredible revelation comes as police separately made their latest move in the fight to stop Sydney’s wild underworld war, with the arrest of a 42-year-old man over the death of 48-year-old cocaine kingpin Alen Moradian on Spring St in Bondi Junction on June 27.

That man had his name suppressed by the NSW Local Court on Wednesday.

A stolen car complete with jerry can seized by NSW Police’s Taskforce Magnus

NSW Police Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Weinstein, who was tasked with running Taskforce Magnus when it was created in July after a spate of fatal shootings, said the proactive efforts of police to uncover the cars before they could be used was crucial to stopping further gangland attacks.

“There is no doubt these vehicles were to be used in carrying out serious violent acts for crimes syndicates,” said Det Chief Supt Weinstein said.

“Some of these vehicles had jerry cans in them and were mostly likely to be used in some form of crime.

“We work in tandem with Strike Force Sweetenham and Strike Force Java which are targeting the juveniles involved in the aggravated break and enters where these cars are stolen.”

Taskforce Magnus boss Detective Chief Superintendent Jason Weinstein. Picture: Tim Hunter

Det Chief Supt Weinstein said where previously an underworld hit was planned, and then cars stolen, now cars were being stolen first.

They are then auctioned off to crime syndicates, who place them ready for use around the city of Sydney.

“What we are seeing is the cars being stolen and then put up for sale in WhatsApp groups, and sold to the highest bidder,” he said.

“It is a reversal of the way these crime syndicates used to operate.”

Alen Moradian was shot dead in Bondi Junction.

Taskforce Magnus was set up to investigate nine cases of murder or shootings in Sydney over the past six months, including the shooting of senior Comanchero bikie Moradian, his associate Marvin Oraiha and a Friday afternoon attack on two brothers in a Marrickville barber shop.

Moradian had been warned by NSW Police of a bounty on his head not long after getting out of jail in 2022.

While on parole he applied to fly overseas, hoping it would be safer, but that request was pushed back on by NSW Police and it was ultimately refused.

At the time he decided to move out of the family home he shared with wife Natasha, and hole himself up in high-rise apartments throughout the city.

But somehow two gunmen were waiting for him in the underground carpark of his home about 8.30am on Tuesday, June 27.

Moradian was a high-ranking Comanchero bikie with a price on his head.

He was gunned down in the underground carpark of this Bondi Junction unit block. Picture: Richard Dobson

While those gunmen remain outstanding, Taskforce Magnus with the assistance of the Tactical Operations Unit arrested two men – the 42-year-old and also a 31-year-old – early on Wednesday and charged them with murder for their alleged role in the murder of Moradian.

One man was taken to Sutherland Police Station and the other to Liverpool Police Station, where both weer charged with murder.

The black Audi that Alen Moradian was in when gunned down in June. Picture: 9 News

Police said in a statement they will allege the older man instigated the fatal shooting, whilst the younger man helped coordinate it.

In the hours after the alleged murder of Moradian back in June, police located a burnt-out Porsche nearby and a burnt-out Holden Commodore in Zetland.

Three crime scenes were subsequently established and forensically examined by specialist police.

A female relative of Moradian’s wife Natasha told The Daily Telegraph in the wake of Wednesday’s arrests that the widow continued to be “devastated” by the death of her longtime partner.

Mrs Moradian, who runs an organic fruit and vegetable business in the Hawkesbury, was contacted by police soon after the two arrests were made.

“She’s not at work, how can she work with this going on … and everyone calling her asking how she feels,” she said.

“How do you think she feels?

The woman said Mrs Moradian was still angry police had not let her husband go overseas while on bail.

“She says it all the time: ‘If they let him go … we’d still have him’.”