Viliami Eteaki, Section60 associates charged with drug and gun supply

Members of a western Sydney rap outfit said to be aligned with one of the drill scene’s most high profile groups have been accused of running drugs and guns in the suburbs while police watched on.

A western Sydney drill rap outfit’s founding member allegedly directed the sale of illegal guns and drugs worth tens of thousands of dollars through an encrypted app, unaware police were watching their every move.

Police allege Section60 rap group member Viliami Eteaki, using the alias SUB-ZERO on encrypted app Threema, orchestrated the operation in recent months alongside eight other group members and associates.

The 25-year-old is facing 23 charges relating to drug and firearm supply as well as knowingly directing a criminal group over a slew of deals allegedly made, then seized by NSW Police’s Raptor Squad.

A document of police allegations reveal Eteaki is accused of supplying five prohibited firearms for $61,500, and 812g of methamphetamine for more than $90,000 through the drill group’s network of alleged associates.

Customers would contact SUB-ZERO – allegedly Eteaki – who would negotiate the deals, before sending associates to make transactions in pub car parks, quiet streets, and outside a local gym.

Viliami Eteaki.

An L1A1 self-loading rifle – a weapon once used by the Australian Army in Vietnam – and the associated ammunition allegedly went for a five-figure price in a sleepy Dean Park street.

“In the days leading up to March 20, a person contacted Eteaki via Threema, at the time … using the Threema handle SUB-ZERO,” the document of allegations states.

The L1A1 self-loading rifle.

The associated ammunition.

“The person negotiated the supply of the prohibited firearm for $35,000, (and) it was agreed the firearm and ammunition would be supplied in the vicinity of Mallory St in Dean Park.”

A shortened double-barrel shotgun, allegedly sold with the ammunition alongside a shortened single-shot break-barrel shotgun for $18,500 in Colyton on March 14, was later discovered to have been stolen during a break-in in Tamworth in 2013 and never recovered.

The double-barrelled shotgun.

The biggest single drug supply was alleged to have been five ounces of methamphetamine and one ounce of cocaine on February 19, which went for $22,000 in a St Marys carpark.

Benedix Faner-Villegas, Paul Taakimoeaka, Heleina Cowan, Georgia Valesini and Jake Soesa, have all been charged with supplying various quantities of methamphetamine allegedly at Eteaki’s behest.

Ethan Chatto, Faner-Villegas, Taakimoeaka and Cowan have also been charged over their alleged roles in the supply of firearms, also at Eteaki’s direction.

Sione Maile and Noah Maile have also been charged over their alleged involvement in the syndicate, though their roles were not specified in the police document.

Some of the drugs seized.

Analysis of the substances showing they are methamphetamine.

Eteaki and Sione Maile are banned from communicating as both are on Supreme Court bail over their alleged involvement in a horrific 2023 kidnapping in which two men and a woman were viciously tortured over a purported drug debt.

The Section60 drill outfit is said to have an affiliated gang based chiefly in St Marys, with Eteaki among nine members and associates charged after a Raptor Squad probe into drug and firearm supply in Sydney’s west.

Nine people have been arrested by Raptor Squad.

Eteaki and the Mailes are represented by high profile criminal solicitor Ahmed Dib.

Section60’s social media discloses a close association with high profile Mt Druitt rap group ONEFOUR, widely regarded as the pioneers of Australia’s drill scene.

The groups’ suburb affiliations are regarded as fundamental in the parochial drill rap scene, with alliances and hostilities alike often drawn down postcode lines.

The Daily Telegraph does not suggest the Section60 or ONEFOUR rappers themselves are gang members, or in any way involved with the Raptor Squad investigation.

High profile criminal solicitor Ahmed Dib represents Eteaki and the Mailes, who all deny the allegations against them and were refused at Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.

The group’s matters return to Penrith Local Court on May 30.

Got a story? Email [e-mail]