Armed officers and riot team raid five units in Auburn, arrest four

FIVE units in an apartment block in Auburn have been raided and four arrests made after a morning police operation.

• Charges made after pizza shop robberies and shooting

RIOT squad has stormed an apartment block on Harrow Rd this morning, after a tip off from a neighbour.

The information lead police and a tactical unit to the arrest of four men in connection to an illicit drug ring.

The raids shut down the suburban street while the operation was carried out, with witnesses surprised by the amount of police presence.

Officers from Auburn Police Area Command searched five units in the block at 6am, seizing 7kg of cannabis and four toy guns.

The unit blocks on Harrow Rd were raided at 6am this morning after a tip off by a neighbour.

“When I got here the whole road was closed and there was two armoured vehicles parked in each driveway,” a nearby construction worker said.

“They had drones up and they were looking into the windows of the apartment.

“We had a feeling they would raid this joint, the amount of people you see coming and going is incredible.”

The block is close to the Auburn CBD. Picture: Google Map

A woman who arrived at the apartment block just before 12.30pm was charged with stealing this reporter’s phone as media filmed from the street on Thursday morning.

She was sitting out the front of the block when a man arrived and the duo got into a heated argument, sparking officers to run outside and speak to them.

As the man ran off, the woman was issued a move-on notice by police before approaching this reporter.

“I was filming as police gave the woman a move on notice and as she walked away from officers, she walked directly up to me and told me to stop filming before she grabbed my phone,” reporter Rebecca Parish said.

“She snatched it out of my hands and as I tried to get it back she kept swearing at me and would not let go of my phone.

“Police arrested and handcuffed her and as they were doing that she threw my phone to the ground.”

Police were called to the street in 2014 after a man was stabbed in the back during a dispute. Picture: Gordon McComiskie

Last week a pedestrian was injured after being hit by a car in Harrow Rd, leaving his leg partially severed.

The street was the scene of two previous crimes; a shooting in 2013, where a drug dispute at a block of flats lead to a 23-year-old man being shot and two arrested and a stabbing in 2014 where a man was left with wounds to his back after another dispute.

Strike force Oilwell has been following the recent drug supply and arrests, with charges expected to be made today.

Auburn PAC crime manager Paul Arnold also said further search warrants will be carried out this afternoon.

Auburn PAC Crime Manager Paul Arnold.