Mouhamad Tajeddine fronts court on drugs charges

A budding member of the air force has swapped the base for the courtroom after he was charged with supplying cocaine in the iconic Sydney party suburb of Bondi.

A young member of the Royal Australian Air Force, who had defence fatigues in his car when police pulled him over, has appeared in court after officers alleged they found more than seven grams of cocaine in his vehicle.

Mouhamad Tajeddine was one of more than 80 people charged with offences following a Christmas cocaine crackdown, dubbed Strike Force Northrop by New South Wales Police.

Also arrested in the operation was an Instagram influencer who subsequently pleaded guilty to dealing coke and MDMA to city high flyers; a pregnant woman and a 51-year-old cab driver whose taxi allegedly had secret compartments holding cocaine.

Wearing black jeans, sunglasses and a pink checked shirt, the baby-faced Mr Tajeddine, from Wagga Wagga, fronted Waverley Local Court near Bondi Junction in Sydney’s east on Tuesday.

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The 23-year-old was stopped and searched by police at a petrol station on Bondi Road – close to the iconic Sydney seaside suburb of Bondi – at 9pm on November 30, 2019.

When they searched the Kia Stinger car, officers alleged they found two coke stashes – one of 0.7g and another of 7.1g – and $1655 in cash. In documents seen by news.com.au, police state there were “reasonable grounds” to suspect the cash was due to the sale of the drugs.

Mouhamad Tajeddine leaves Waverley Court. Photo Jeremy Piper

Police allege Mr Tajeddine was supplying drugs in Bondi last November. Picture: Facebook

A pair of blue RAAF fatigues were also found inside the vehicle.

Mr Tajeddine was charged on one count of supply prohibited drug (small quantity), one of supply prohibited drug (indictable quantity) and a single charge of deal with property proceeds of crime of an amount less than $100,000.

He has not yet entered a plea and will return to court on February 20.

A Defence Force employee after he was pulled over by cops in Bondi as part of Strike Force Northrop. Picture: NSW Police Force

Police found RAAF fatigues in the back of the car. Picture: NSW Police Force

INSTA MODEL’S DOWNFALL

Mr Tajeddine’s court appearance comes a week after a jet setting Instagram model and casino hostess, with tens of thousands of admiring followers on social media, pleaded guilty to drug charges when she was also caught during the Northrop crackdown.

Police documents stated that when confronted by officers, the 23-year-old immediately pointed police to her stash. When asked if she had any more drugs in the car, she said: “Yeah, some bags in the centre console … coke, cocaine.”

On January 14, Zinger pleaded guilty to four charges at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, two of supply prohibited drug and one each of possess prohibited drug and deal with the proceeds of crime.

The woman, also a gym instructor and casino cocktail waitress, was pulled over in Sydney’s swanky Barangaroo business precinct on November 29.

Unknown to her, plain clothed police were covertly observing the area.

They noted Zinger’s Honda CRV pull up to the kerb and a man jump in. Police facts state Zinger admitted to selling the man $500 worth of cocaine.

Veronica Zinger pleaded guilty to supplying prohibited drugs after a major police operation targeting alleged Sydney cocaine dealers. Picture: Instagram.

When confronted by cops, Zinger readily admitted she had more drugs in the car. Aside from the cocaine, divided up into small bags in the centre console, a small bag of drugs was also found in her handbag.

“It’s probably MDMA,” she told officers. “I dunno, like I know it’s not mine but I might have left it there from ages ago.”

Police found four bags of cocaine weighing 2.8g as well as 1.1g of MDMA. Two phones were also found with messages pointing Zinger to her next rendezvous with a customer.

She had $2150 in her possession and in the car.

One of Zinger’s promotional pages says she has a “very vibrant and bubbly personality”, has done TV extra work and “would be very keen to land some feature roles”.

Zinger’s Instagram page, which featured images of her photo shoots and a world travel series of herself against scenes in Italy, Greece and the Middle East, has since been shut down.

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell, who worked on Strike Force Northrop, said he was amazed people were dealing cocaine so blatantly.

“Officers were astounded by how brazen some of these alleged drug transactions have become, often taking place in highly-visible and crowded locations in Sydney’s CBD and surrounding suburbs,” he said.

“This operation once again shows that cocaine supply and possession is not limited to one specific group of people, with several individuals from well-regarded professions in the community among those now before the courts.”