Heavy-armed officers in tactical gear have rushed a major road in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and shot rubber bullets at a car before detaining the driver.
Sunday little before 5 p.m., Edgecliff police officers extricated a guy from a vehicle in the middle of New South Head Road.
During a vehicle stop, police from the Tactical Operations Unit apprehended a 42-year-old male, according to a NSW Police spokeswoman.
Later, it was discovered that the individual was Comanchero bikie commander Tarek Zahed, who was imprisoned for his suspected role in a 2014 gangland murder.
Three months prior to his imprisonment, he was shot ten times in a gangland hit.
‘As part of an ongoing investigation, a 42-year-old man was arrested by Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) officers during a vehicle stop on New South Head Road at Edgecliff about 4.50pm today,’ the spokesman said.
‘He’s been taken to Surry Hills Police Station.
‘No further information is available at this time.’
Zahed’s arrest is thought to be related to the 2014 death of Youssef Assoum, who was found bleeding out in southwestern Sydney just 50 metres from a hospital.
Assoum, 29, was found by an off-duty doctor and had been shot once in the right thigh and stabbed several times in the head.
The doctor tried to save Assoum but he died of his injuries upon reaching hospital.
Numerous rubber bullets were shot at a black BMW on Sunday, leaving several huge holes and partly broken rear windows.
On Sunday evening, more than a dozen police vehicles were positioned in front of the Edgecliff railway station while highly armed tactical officers attended the massive operation.
Zahed remains in police custody and is collaborating with their investigations.
Last Sunday, the legendary underworld figure was seen with Comanchero national president Allan Meehan and two other colleagues while dining at a Melbourne restaurant. All four men were attired in luxury clothing and jewellery.
Meehan captioned the Instagram photo: “Welcome back Tarek ‘hard2kill’ Zahed.”
In May, the 42-year-old and his brother Omar were both shot at the Bodyfit Gym in Auburn, western Sydney, but amazingly survived.
The ‘Balenciaga Bikie’ was transported to the hospital in severe condition and operated on for gunshot wounds to his head, torso, and eyeball. His 39-year-old brother Omar was slain in the incident.
Even though he had been shot 10 times, there were no apparent scars on the bikie hard man’s face in the most recent picture he uploaded on Instagram last week.
It was the first time the public saw the Comanchero leader, who amazingly escaped the murder attempt that shook the city’s underbelly.
Zahed is reported to have been hiding out in Melbourne since leaving the hospital in July.
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, commander of the Homicide Squad, said at the time that police were examining various motivations for the attempted assassination, refusing to rule out an inside job.
‘We can’t discount an internal conflict,’ he told reporters.
‘There is opportunities for people to take their place and there’s a real power struggle within organised crime organisations.’