By Sally Rawsthorne
A 26-year-old man accused of running a drug dealing network selling goods procured by the Comancheros has been arrested in dramatic scenes in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with police also seizing more than $20,000 cash from his Double Bay home.
Mitchell Hewerdine, 26, was arrested at the property on Wednesday by a strike force set up to probe the supply of drugs, money laundering and outlaw motorcycle gang connections of two Sydney men.
Arrest vision shows Hewerdine lying on the nature strip outside the home as two undercover police officers dressed in running clothes cuff him and sirens wail in the distance.
Police allege that he “directed a network of young males to supply prohibited drugs across the Sydney metropolitan area”. Two of those men – Jayden Stacker, 21, and Isaac Kennedy, 25 – are now before the courts on drug supply charges.
Hewerdine is now facing charges of commercial drug supply, dealing with the proceeds of crime, directing the activities of a criminal group and failing to comply with a digital evidence order.
He appeared briefly in court on Thursday where he did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused. He will return to court in September.
Police allege they also seized white powder, believed to be cocaine.Credit: NSW Police
Investigators also executed three search warrants – one at his home in Double Bay and two at the homes of Hewerdine’s relatives in Wallacia, in western Sydney.
At the home on Court Road, Double Bay, police allegedly seized electronic devices believed to be dedicated encrypted criminal communication devices (DECCDs) and cash. DECCDs are illegal in NSW if they are suspected to be used in serious criminal activity.
Police allege they also seized white powder, believed to be cocaine, and another DECCD from a car parked at the property.
During a search of a home on Peter Pan Avenue, Wallacia, police allegedly discovered a roof cavity containing a pistol concealed in a glove, ammunition, tablets believed to be MDMA, capsicum spray and “electronic devices and other items consistent with the manufacture of prohibited drugs”.
Police say they seized a pistol wrapped in a glove from a property at Wallacia.Credit: NSW Police
At a home on nearby Davenport Drive, police allegedly discovered prohibited drugs, a hard drive and other “items consistent with the manufacture of prohibited drugs”.
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