Police are seeking to extradite a woman from Melbourne after detectives allege they have linked a gun from two Sydney shootings to the mistaken identity gangland murder of Marco Tapia.
Mr Tapia, 23, died after masked gunmen stormed his Glen Alpine home and shot him dead on September 1.
The university student was the sixth mistaken identity murder linked to Sydney’s underworld war in the space of 18 months.
Police at the scene of the Glen Alpine home over a fortnight ago. (ABC News)
In documents obtained by the ABC from a Victorian court, NSW Police will allege a group of Melbourne men were involved in two shootings linked to the ongoing feud between the Alameddine crime family and the self-proclaimed “Coconut Cartel”.
“The history of that conflict is characterised by retaliatory violence, firearm offences and acts of intimidation,” police allege in a document submitted to a Magistrates Court this week.
The Coconut Cartel, which takes its name from a historic slur against Pasifika people, and the Alameddines are playing out a violent underworld war on Sydney’s streets while their leaders remain offshore.
Police have stated that Mr Tapia was not involved in organised crime and that detectives believe his death was tragically an error by his killers.
Brad Abdy provided an update on Friday. (ABC News)
Speaking to reporters on Friday morning, Raptor Squad Commander Brad Abdy said police would allege the group were hired by the “Alameddine [organised crime network]”.
“It’s important to realise that criminals can’t come interstate, commit offences, run away and hide back in their states and think that they’re going to avoid detection and prosecution for their crimes,” he said.
“It’s equally as important that people who are overseas tasking criminals in Australia to commit these types of offences can’t use our borders as a means of protection from prosecution and identification.”
Two teenagers on Thursday were charged over their alleged roles in the murder of Mr Tapia.
Four arrested in Victoria
Amenah Abusud, who was arrested in Melbourne on Thursday in relation to two shootings in Sydney last month. (Supplied: NSW Police)
The Melbourne woman, 26-year-old Amenah Abusud, is alleged to have been “recruited by an organised crime network, tasked, and received payments to participate” in two shootings before Mr Tapia’s death.
Three others, two men aged 22 and 26 and a 16-year-old boy, were also arrested in Melbourne and were being extradited to Sydney on Friday.
Police, in the court documents, allege the weapon used in the two shootings was also used to kill Mr Tapia.
According to the court documents, the woman and the men set off from Donnybrook, in Melbourne’s north, in a Hyundai two days before the shooting of Mr Tapia.
Police allege Ms Abusud “utilises” the same Hyundai.
One of the men, 23, who was also arrested in Donnybrook to be extradited to Sydney today. (Supplied: NSW Police)
Court documents state police tracked the vehicle at Campbelltown before CCTV captured the group of men at a local Airbnb.
A day before Mr Tapia’s shooting, documents allege, the group broke into and shot up a home in Hurstville before its owner received a threatening message from an international number on WhatsApp.
Hours later, the document states the same group shot up parked cars at a home in Turrella.
Boosted powers to target Sydney’s gangsters, but police face a new problem
Police said in their statement of alleged facts that blood from one of the shootings identified one of the Melbourne men, and gun cartridges were matched to a third shooting: the death of Mr Tapia a day later at Glen Alpine.
Investigators from the NSW Police’s Raptor Squad are seeking to have Ms Abusud extradited from Victoria today, alleging she “is at risk of attempting to flee the country”.
Police are seeking the group’s transfer interstate on charges related to the shootings at Turrella and Hurstville, but not in relation to the shooting of Mr Tapia.
Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live
moment.
Fri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:17amFri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:17am
Press conference ends
That’s all from Acting Superintendent Abdy.
For more on this evolving story, you can keep up to date via the ABC News website.
Fri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:16amFri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:16am
Alleged links to Alameddine crime family
Asked about the ongoing feud between the self-proclaimed “Coconut Cartel” and the Alameddine crime family, Superintendent Abdy says police will allege the four arrested yesterday were hired by one of the organised crime groups.
“We will allege there are obviously two rival organised crime networks in Australia; we’ll most likely indicate they are from the Alameddine OCN,” he says
Fri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:11amFri 18 Sep 2026 at 11:11am
Link to murder weapon
On the firearm from the two shootings which police have linked to the death of Marco Tapia at Glen Alpine, Superintendent Abdy says those arrested in Melbourne are “significant persons of interest”, but have not been charged with murder.
Show more