How drug dealers’ fear of ‘The Commission’ led to three innocent people being shot

Stolen drugs, a botched home invasion with a baby inside and three innocent bystanders shot. All because police allege Aussie drug cartel “The Commission” wanted revenge.

“I had to do it.”

Those are the last words police say they recorded alleged gunman Anthony Pele uttering on a listening device before he boarded a plane for Dubai and vanished.

Police believe Pele is the triggerman behind a triple shooting that rocked Sydney last year which killed one man, left another a paraplegic and saw his girlfriend shot through the back.

All three were innocent bystanders mistaken for rival drug dealers by Pele, who had allegedly been tasked with protecting his friend Ammar Chahal near his Greenacre home on 23 July 2023.

“I acted on my own, this had nothing to do with you … if this cocksuker is sitting opposite your mum’s house … I had to do it,” Pele is alleged to have told his friend Chahal.

Pele is now understood to be in hiding in Indonesia.

Anthony Pele, wanted over the Greenacre shooting that killed Ahmad Al-Azzam. Picture: NSW Police

Ahmad Al-Azzam, 25.

Chahal has been charged with murder. Police allege he ordered the shooting over concerns for his own safety after finding a GPS tracker stuck to his car.

They allege he would go on to tell an undercover officer and a rollover member of his crew that he feared being kidnapped by the Comanchero bikie gang because he had upset “The Commission”.

Saric during a raid on his home in December.

Police allege Chahal and his associates had stolen drugs from other rival groups.

In a meeting with the undercover officer and the member of his crew, Chahal allegedly told them that he had given Pele “specific instructions not to shoot unless they tried to grab him from inside the house”.

Police claim that, despite these instructions, Pele shot dead 25-year-old Ahmad Al-Azzam, left Kaashif Richards, 22, a quadriplegic and shot his girlfriend Achiraya Jantharat, 19, through the back that night on Mayvic St, Greenacre.

The details of the police case were revealed in court documents for the first time after one alleged member of Chahal’s crew was denied bail in the Supreme Court last month.

The Commission is the drug cartel ran by bikies and Australian overseas drug lords who sparked fear into Sydney’s underworld last year with messages of threats to kill if rivals did not work with them.

Police combing over Mr Al-Azzam’s car at the scene in Greenacre last year. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE

The case is believed to be the first time police have publicly linked gangland violence to The Commission.

Police say Chahal’s fears came after those out to get him attempted to commit a violent home invasion on his associate involved in upsetting The Commission four days before the shooting.

According to court documents a group of three men blasted a shot through a door in Lidcombe where an 18-month-old baby was inside before realising they had the wrong home.

Police claim their intended target was Chahal’s friend Raymond Crichton who lived next door.

The details of what police say happened in Lidcombe have never been revealed before beyond police asking for public assistance at the time.

Mohammad Derbas has been charged with planting trackers on the cars.

So far only western Sydney plumber Mohammad Derbas has been charged with planting trackers on cars linked to Chahal, Crichton and a man named “Evans”.

The night of the Greenacre triple shooting Pele is alleged to have been spooked by the lights of Mr Al-Azzam’s car, pulled up alongside him and fired five shots into him in the early hours of the morning.

Court documents state he then drove further down the road and shot twice into the car Mr Richards and Ms Jantharat were sitting in.

Police allege they have obtained CCTV footage of the Chahal, Pele, Marko Saric and others discussing their plans to lure their rivals into an attack at a Greenacre cafe.

Saric has been charged with murder and shooting with intent to murder after allegedly driving Pele to his home after the shooting, as well as drug offences.

Writing in documents tendered to court, police allege Saric is a high level drug dealer with expertise in the manufacturing of methamphetamine.

Saric has been charged with murder and shooting with intent to murder as police allege he acted as the getaway driver in the shooting.

Their investigation into Saric’s role allegedly uncovered between June and July last year he spent $45,000 on prostitutes, $3825 on a designer jacket, paid his $1800 rent in cash and transferred money to other known criminals.

This is despite police accusing him of not having any discernible income during this period.

He and Pele left for Dubai after the shooting though only Saric returned to Australia.

Police have alleged Saric and the rest of his crew are members of a criminal drug syndicate tied to offshore crime figures.

In court the police’s star rollover witness inside the crime network run by exiled boss Bilal Haouchar was described as a “person of interest … who has not been charged” and is unlikely to take the stand in a trial.

Despite telling a psychologist he was living at the family home when the June 2023 shooting took place he had signed a lease for a property in Drummoyne in May and was then arrested there in December.

His claims were also undone when police obtained messages from his mum suggesting his family had not seen him in months.

“Hey man you can’t be that busy to have not time for family,” his mother wrote in one message.

“Hey love, hope all is well, I am getting quite concerned about you and not visiting us at all always busy with whoever,” she wrote in another text.

“Ok it’s been a while since you moved out, we have not bothered you as you said you wanted to be on your own, which we respect but I feel you have forgotten about your family.

“We trust you are making right decisions however I hope you are not getting brainwashed with some stupid nonsense, I am sure you are smarter than lots of people around you.

“You can do and become anything in this country but you make a mistake then it’s your responsibility and we don’t want to see (you) going wrong way.”

Saric’s legal team told a Supreme Court bail hearing last month he wanted to be released to care for his grandparents.

Saric’s barrister Ertunc Ozen SC argued based on speed camera images taken of the car there was no “reliable evidence” to show it was him behind the wheel that night.

He was denied bail and remains on remand in custody.

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