Police uncover blackmarket gun deal during Prospect gym shooting investigation

Police were investigating the brazen, daylight shooting of Alameddine associate Murat Gulasi (pictured) when they stumbled upon a syndicate allegedly dealing in illegal guns.

A man arrested in sweeping police raids following an alleged gang-related shooting at a western Sydney gym last year has been jailed for nine months on a gun supply charge.

Steve Mate, 27, was charged with a single count of supplying a shortened firearm after he and two other men were arrested on July 7 by police attached to the State Crime Command’s criminal groups squad.

At the time of the arrest, police said they had been investigating the brazen, daylight shooting of Alameddine associate Murat Gulasi outside World Gym at Prospect in November 2021 when they allegedly uncovered an illegal firearm syndicate.

The Telegraph does not suggest Mate was involved in gang-related activity or the gym shooting in any way. Nor is it suggested the gun Mate supplied — a shortened 0.308 Vanguard rifle — was used in the shooting.

A rival gang member, Ibrahem Hamze, 27, was arrested in January this year and remains before the courts charged over his alleged role in the shooting, in which bullets allegedly fired from a Mazda wagon in the gym carpark narrowly missed children being cared for inside the centre’s creche.

Murat Gulasi was shot outside a Prospect gym in 2021.

Police investigate the drive-by shooting.

Gulasi was hit in the leg but escaped serious injury. He left the country in early September over concerns there was a contract out to kill him. He died from a suspected heart attack on Saturday while training in a Turkish gym.

Meanwhile, Mate was remanded in custody after his arrest and confirmed his plea of guilty in Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday to the single firearm supply charge.

Bullet holes inside the creche near the gym. Picture: NSW Police

In a sentencing hearing, Mate, who lives in the western Sydney suburb of Whalan, said he deeply regretted his actions and admitted he’d been motivated by the thought of a quick dollar to fund his alcohol, drug and gambling addictions.

“I was just looking to get easy cash,” he said in an apology letter tendered to the court.

“I didn’t think about the consequences of my actions. In doing so my actions have cost me what money can’t buy — time.”

The court heard Mate’s co-accused had negotiated the sale of the Vanguard rifle to a buyer for $3,500.

Mate agreed to pick up the gun from an unidentified person and transport it to the agreed meeting point outside a home in Parramatta.

The exchange took place on the afternoon of May 3, inside Mate’s Ford Territory.

The court heard the buyer turned out to be an undercover police operative and the entire exchange was being monitored by detectives.

The gun was found to be in perfect working order and a check of its serial number revealed it had been stolen from a home in Dapto, south of Wollongong, 10 years earlier.

When arrested, Mate told police he’d sold the firearm as a favour to someone but refused to name the individual. He also admitted he’d only been paid between $100 and $200 for his efforts.

Tactical police arrest one of three men in July in relation to an alleged firearm supply syndicate. Picture: NSW Police

In court on Wednesday, defence barrister Talal Krayem said his client played a limited role in the alleged supply and had been operating at the behest of his co-accused.

“He’s not the one who organised the deal, it was his co-offenders who organised it, he was the delivery driver,” Mr Krayem said.

The court heard Mate had had trouble holding down a job due to his multiple addictions and was in need of intense, ongoing treatment to deal with his psychological and dependency issues.

Magistrate James Viney sentenced Mate to 15 months jail, with a non-parole period of nine months, alluding to the prevalence of gun crime stemming from the city’s gang wars.

“The community, in the current climate in Sydney, should be protected from people who want to engage in the unlawful supply of firearms,” he said.

With time served, Mate will be released on parole in April next year.