Two alleged members of a “kill team” have faced court over an alleged plot to murder a man picking up a child at daycare.
NSW Police on Tuesday pounced on a group of men driving through Revesby in Sydney’s southwest, allegedly with balaclavas and pistols.
The three men – Kevin Mundine, 19, Greall Tighe, 18, and 26-year-old Tyrone Tuiluga Rio – have been charged with conspiracy to murder, accused of trying to intercept and kill their target close to a daycare centre.
The intended victim’s identity hasn’t been revealed, but the man was known to police and is co-operating with authorities.
Police said officers had been conducting a routine surveillance operation in Sydney’s Condell Park area on Tuesday when they allegedly identified the trio “mobilising to carry out an offence”.
Officers immediately sought assistance from the tactical operations unit, PolAir, the dog squad and the state intelligence command.
Just before 4pm they conducted “high-risk” stops of two vehicles in Revesby using less than lethal rounds and arrested the three men. A search of the cars allegedly found two firearms, balaclavas, body-worn cameras and two jerry cans filled with petrol. A third firearm was later found in another unoccupied vehicle linked to the men.
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The potential victim has alleged links to organised crime and police said they believed there had been a “breakdown” in his relationship to the organisation.
Police did not confirm which daycare centre was the one near the target.
The two younger men were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of an unauthorised pistol and participating in a criminal group, among other charges. The 26-year-old was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal group.
Tighe and Rio faced Bankstown local court on Wednesday afternoon. Neither applied for bail and they were remanded to appear in court on 3 December.
Tighe appeared in the court dock, wearing a blue plastic forensic suit and with a number of bruises on his face. Mundine was remanded in custody before an expected court appearance on Thursday.
The three charged men were alleged to be well known to police but were not believed to be high-ranking members of an organised crime group. Police instead alleged they were junior guns for hire.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Cook said the location of the alleged murder attempt could have resulted in “so much collateral damage”.
Peter Faux, a detective superintendent with the organised crime squad, said the arrests were part of a police operation to target those responsible for previous violent events in public spaces.
“We [allege that] were able to not only identify that they were going to do something serious, we were fortunately in a position to react and stop that from occurring,” Faux said at the news briefing.
He alleged that police had stopped the men “from murdering someone and we clearly stopped other people, innocent bystanders, from being caught up in this”.
Cook said officials would continue work to “dismantle” organised crime networks operating across Sydney, adding that police would take action to protect the community from such networks “especially when it threatens everyday spaces where families expect to feel safe”.
“They were never going to make it to any [childcare] centre,” he said. “They would never be allowed to make it to a centre. The collateral damage there would be far too great.”
