Long River syndicate: $10m Balwyn North mansion among confiscated assets

As investigators combed through numerous properties in and around Melbourne, luxury goods including jewellery and cars were seized, along with several properties.

The $10m luxury home in Balwyn that was seized as part of Operation Avarus-Nightwolf.

A $10m mansion owned by one of seven alleged Long River bosses in the Melbourne suburb of Balwyn North has been seized, as police move in on assets they allege syndicate members amassed through laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds of crime.

They are also alleged to have made expensive escape plans, with police alleging all seven — four men and three women from Melbourne’s easternb suburbs — purchased fake passports worth $200,000 each.

As investigators spent Wednesday combing through numerous properties in and around Melbourne, luxury goods including jewellery and cars were seized, along with several properties.

A trophy home in Balwyn North, featuring five bedrooms, a swimming pool, a gym, an underground theatre and eight-car basement garage was restrained by the AFP’s Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce.

Inside the trophy home.

The exterior.

Property records show the house in Knutsford Street was sold in May for $10m.

A mansion in Melbourne’s leafy Kew was also seized, with a $400,000 Mercedes Maybach luxury car and a $94,000 diamond-encrusted Rolex watch seized from the property.

Police photographs show a blue Lexus two-door sports car parked in the garage at the Kew home, in front of dozens of boxes of wine.

Police allege the kingpins of the syndicate amassed enormous wealth, which they used to fund extravagant lifestyles that included flying in private jets, drinking eye-wateringly expensive wine, and eating at the best restaurants.

AFP search warrant is executed at a property in Kew, Melbourne.

Surveillance photos show three suspects dressed in shorts and T-shirts walking to a Melbourne restaurant with what police allege is $100,000 worth of wine in their hands.

AFP Eastern Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said assets including houses and investment properties were among items police had seized that had allegedly been bought with tainted money by the Long River syndicate members.

A third property at Glen Iris in suburban Melbourne was also seized, with photos showing a man in handcuffs being led from the property by the AFP.