Woman allegedly associated with the Notorious crime gang has been charged by police investigating two drive-by shootings

Woman allegedly associated with the Notorious crime gang has been charged by police investigating two drive-by shootings in western Sydney yesterday that police suspect were linked to the group.There are fears a gang war was started when several shots were fired into houses in Doonside and Prospect within five minutes shortly after midnight yesterday.No-one was injured in either shooting but it was a close call for the two adults sleeping inside the Doonside house and the three adults and two children in Prospect.In both cases, the bullets missed their mark and police believe the same stolen gold-coloured Range Rover ferried the shooter or shooters to the two locations. The car was later found alight in Blacktown.

Police yesterday said they suspected the shootings were linked to the Notorious gang, which bears the hallmarks of a bikie group and has been linked to series of violent acts around Sydney.

About 7:00pm (AEDT) yesterday, officers from the State Crime Command's Gangs Squad and North-West Region Enforcement Squad pulled over a 24-year-old woman while she was driving in Guildford West.Police say the found a .38 revolver in a handbag while they searched the car.The Prospect woman is due to face Fairfield Local Court today charged with possessing a firearm.
Monash University's Professor Arthur Veno, who has been researching and surveying gangs and their members for more than 20 years, last night told ABC Radio's PM program a serious line was crossed yesterday when women and children were put in the firing line.
"It's a cardinal rule of the rules of engagement of war for bikies that no retributions or injuries to a former member or current member would be done in the presence or vision of his family," he said."They have clearly broken the rules and they'd better be ready for the consequences."There has been a string of drive-by shootings in Sydney in recent months. Last month, a bomb exploded outside a Hells Angels clubhouse and shots were fired into a nearby tattoo parlour.

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Three shooting incidents in Sydney in 24 hours.

Three shooting incidents in Sydney in 24 hours.A man is in police custody this afternoon after a man was shot in Sydney's west.Ambulance crews were called to a house in Denver Road, St Clair, about 1.30pm, where they found a man, aged about 30, with gunshot wounds to the arm and chest, an ambulance spokesman said.He was taken to Nepean Hospital in a stable condition, he said.The call to ambulance crews had said the shooting was an accident."Whether he's accidentally shot himself or someone else accidentally shot him [is not known],'' he said.A police spokesman said another man had been taken into custody over the shootings and was being questioned.In the early hours today, two shots were fired into a house at Beatrice Street, Bass Hill, about 1.10am, police say.A number of people were at home at the time, but no one was injured."I can confirm it was a domestic incident, but unfortunately the details are pretty scarce," acting Inspector Alan Spence from Bankstown police said.The occupants of the house are understood to have provided few details about the attack. No description of the gunmen was given.The shooting comes after similar incidents in the same suburb and in the neighbouring suburb of Chester Hill a month ago."I wouldn't say that we are having any more than we normally encounter in this area," acting Inspector Spence said.Soon after that shooting, 10 shots were fired into a tattoo parlour at Burwood Road, Belmore, about 1.45am.Inspector Mark Pluss from Campsie police said a male worker was in the parlour at the time but was not injured.Less than two months ago, a series of shootings and an arson attack at a tattoo parlour in Brighton-Le-Sands was described by police as "a battle over turf between rival [bikie] gangs"."At this stage, I don't think we can put [the Belmore shooting] down to that," Inspector Pluss said.He said there had been no other reported incidents at the parlour in the past.

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Gangster Kalid Dib, shot dead during a failed armoured van robbery on Tuesday.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered at Lakemba Mosque for the funeral of Kalid Dib, shot dead during a failed armoured van robbery on Tuesday.About 200 friends and relatives marched in a procession from a funeral parlour next door and into the mosque just before midday.A group of young men carried Dib's white casket, draped in a green religious sheet, up the steps and inside.The mourners included the clearly distraught immediately family of Dib, as well as controversial Sydney cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly.After a half-hour service the crowd re-emerged and watched as the coffin was placed in a hearse and driven to Rookwood Cemetery, where he is to be buried.A small contingent of police and Sydney media stood by as the crowd walked up Wangee Road and then dispersed to drive to Rookwood.Dib and another man were fired at when they tried to rob three Armaguard guards of cash at the National Australia Bank on George Street, Parramatta, on Tuesday.The hunt for the two other men involved in the shooting continues today with police saying the security guards who fired are expected not to be charged.A prominent youth worker in the south-west, Fadi Rahman, also attended the funeral.Afterwards he told the Herald that Dib, whom he had known through the local Lebanese muslim community, had become sucked in a life of crime."These young kids have nothing. They emulate their older brothers, relatives, start acting up, and eventually they get recruited by real crims."
He said a lack of resources for local youth - Mr Rahman's Lidcombe youth centre and gym was forced to move last year after a stoush with Auburn Council - means there is limited help for troubled youth."There's no PCYC [police citizens youth club], no youth centre. What do you expect the result to be? Of course somebody is going to die. This time it was the young bloke, next time it could be the security guard.
"We've been speaking to the Premier, we've been speaking to MPs, but it comes to nothing. What will it take? Look at our streets, they're like ghettos."
Mr Rahman, who was involved in crime before he turned to youth work, said he understood how kids were sucked into criminal activity."They come from poor families, they have nothing and they get depressed. I know what it's like. You come to a state where your life is a dead end and you're willing to do anything to get out, even commit armed robberies."

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Armed Robbers tied up Michael Mamoud 70-year-old and his wife 72-year-old

Police say three men armed with guns and wearing balaclavas broke through the back door of the home in Foveaux Avenue, Lurnea, about 9:00pm (AEDT) yesterday.
They allegedly tied up the elderley couple before stealing jewellery and other items.
The man received a cut to his face and both victims were taken to Liverpool Hospital with minor injuries.
All three men are described as looking Mediterranean or Middle Eastern and in their early 20s. One of the men was wearing a navy-blue shirt and grey-and-white army-style pants.Michael Mamoud says he played dead after he and his wife were tied up and assaulted during a home invasion in Sydney's southwest.
Michael Mamoud, 70, and his wife, aged 72, were tied and bound by a gang of three men who were wearing balaclavas and armed with pistols.
Police said the men ransacked the wealthy couple's Lurnea home looking for gold and jewellery after forcing their way through the back door at about 9pm (AEDT) yesterday.
Mr Mamoud said the robbers bound their feet and hands with cable ties, but he was able to break free.
"I grabbed the gun and said 'Stay back or I'll blow your head off' and they said 'No, no, no, it's not loaded', but I looked in his face and from his eyes he was scared,'' Mr Mamoud told Network Ten.
He said one of the men hit him in the face with another gun, giving him a bloody nose before he played dead.
"They said 'The man has died, we have to go','' he said.
Mr Mamoud suffered minor facial bruising and required three stitches to his nose.
Mr Mamoud's son Sam Bargshoon said the attackers were worse than animals.
"Today it's my father, tomorrow it's going to be your father, or someone else's father, or someone else's mother,'' Mr Bargshoon said.
Mr and Mrs Mamoud were taken to Liverpool Hospital with minor injuries.
Superintendent Mick Plotecki from Liverpool police said the robbery had all the hallmarks of a well-organised attack and that the men may have even known the couple.
"It looks like a very well-organised set of offenders. They came with cable ties, weapons, they were balaclava'd up,'' he said.
"They are reasonably wealthy, elderly people so I think they targeted them specifically.''
Police believe the trio may have used the M5, just behind Foveaux Ave, as a getaway route.
All three robbers were described as Middle Eastern or Mediterranean in appearance and in their early twenties.
One of them wore a navy blue shirt and grey and white army-style pants.

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