Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad spent weeks before murder planning crime spree, police say

Before he was gunned down in a hail of bullets, police believe Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad spent the weeks before his death planning a crime spree.

Gunned down in a hail of bullets, police believe Mahmoud ’Brownie’ Ahmad spent the weeks before his death causing chaos on Sydney streets.

Despite repeated warnings he was a “marked man” with a long list of enemies out to get him, the notorious gangland figure made plans to orchestrate “drive-by shootings and extortions in an effort to get cash”, police sources told the Daily Telegraph.

On Wednesday night, the convicted killer was gunned down by multiple shooters who “lay in wait” until he left an associates home on Narelle Crescent in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Greenacre.

Shortly after the shooting, a black Porsche sedan and black BMW were found on fire in the nearby suburbs of Strathfield and Belmore, with detectives investigating whether the incidents are linked.

Homicide police are now investigating whether multiple gunmen were involved in the ruthlessattack.

Mahmoud ’Brownie’ Ahmad died on Wednesday in a drive by shooting. Picture: Supplied/ Josh Hanrahan

Police say Mahmoud Ahmad ignored multiple warnings that his life was in danger. Picture: Supplied.

Although Ahmad’s death has been described by police as an “meticulous assassination,” detectives claimed the underworld figure brazenly ignored warnings that his life was in danger.

This included a reported $1million bounty which had been placed on his life by rivals.

Speaking to media on Thursday morning Homicide Squad Commander Danny Doherty said police had given the gangster multiple warnings.

“Even up until last week, police were executing foreign execution orders warning them about being associated with ‘Brownie’ Ahmad, that they are in danger and needed to be warned about that,” Detective Superintendent Doherty said.

“He did not want to hide and wanted to carry on his normal criminal activities to deal with the same associates and he has borne the consequences of that.”

When it comes to the list of suspects, however, Mr Doherty said the catalogue was long.

“There is a long list of people that would like to see or do harm to rally and someone last night managed to do so,” he said.

“He’d (also) been warned in the past that he was a marked man but … he didn’t heed those warnings.

“(This is) the consequences of him continuing on in the Bankstown area of going about his normal business as if he hadn’t care in the world, but he was in imminent danger and it was warning that had been given to him.”

One neighbour said she saw two cars speed off after hearing around five gun shots fired. Picture: 7News.

The Daily Telegraph reports that failed assassination ploy had been made on Ahmad’s life in October 2021, seven months before he would ultimately get shot down while leaving a friend’s home.

The gangster had been told to abandon his plans to visit Sydney’s popular Rushcutters Bay Park with children. During Sydney’s 2021 lockdown the location was a popular destination for families and picnickers enjoying the waterfront.

Ahmad’s death was the ninth gang-related shooting in Sydney in the past 18 months alone, with seven of those linked to the feuding Alameddine and Hamzy crime families.

The latest death comes six years after Ahamd’s brother Walid ’Wally’ Ahmad was killed in a shooting outside a cafe at the Bankstown Centro Shopping centre on April 29, 2016.

Police believe that death was connected to the murder of Safwan Charbaji at a Condell Park metal works facility owned by Walid Ahmad. The crime also saw Mahmoud Ahmad imprisoned for five years on charges of manslaughter.

Walid Ahmad’s death has yet to be solved by police and the case was referred to the unsolved homicide squad in April 2020.

Police continued to comb Narelle Crescent in Greenacre NSW on the day after he was killed. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts.