Iziah Utai sentence after drug, weapons bust at Toongabbie home
An Alameddine associate busted with $10K cash and a rifle hidden under a kitchen sink has learned his punishment just months after being arrested at his western Sydney home.
Parramatta
Don't miss out on the headlines from Parramatta . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A young dad with links to the Alameddine crime family has learned his punishment after being busted with weapons and more than $10,000 cash “used in the proceeds of crime” at his Toongabbie home.
Utai was arrested at his Toongabbie Rd townhouse on the morning of January 5, after Raptor Squad detectives started an investigation into alleged drug supply in greater western Sydney.
One of the weapons discovered was a .22 pump action rifle wrapped in a towel under the kitchen sink.
Knuckle dusters with a flick knife, 10 bags of cocaine weighing 3.2g, 18 fireworks, .22 and .223 ammunition and $10,910 in Australian currency were also seized during the search at 6am.
A set of knuckle dusters were found behind a computer screen and a box of fireworks in the garage.
Utai, now 22, asked police if he was going to get in trouble for the fireworks, which he said was going to be used for a family member’s birthday.
He later told cops: “I didn’t know it was illegal.’’
Documents tendered to Parramatta Local Court state police had intelligence that Utai has links to the Alameddine organised crime network, which is “known to be linked to public place shootings”.
Utai pleaded guilty to possessing ammunition without holding a licence/permit/authority, possessing or using a prohibited weapon without permit, supplying a prohibited drug greater than a small indictable quantity, dealing with property proceeds of crime less than $100,000, possessing a shortened firearm (not pistol) without authority and handling explosive/precursor without authorising licence.
A string of charges - including using, supplying, acquiring or possessing a defaced firearm - were withdrawn.
Last month, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in jail from January 5 with a non-parole period of nine months. He is to be released to parole on October 4.
Camper charged after ‘stabbing attack’ in cemetery
A man who was camping at a cemetery in Sydney’s west has been charged over allegedly stabbing a 30-year-old man as he walked through the area with two friends.
Sibling revival: Restoration on the ‘Three Sisters’ begins
Almost 150 vacant public housing units in northwest Sydney will be refurbished after a $2bn project to demolish the buildings and replace them with almost 5000 dwellings was dumped.