{"id":888726,"date":"2026-09-12T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888726\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T00:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:02:13","slug":"man-18-charged-over-alleged-drone-surveillance-in-sydney-underworld-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888726\/","title":{"rendered":"Man, 18, charged over alleged drone surveillance in Sydney underworld shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police have charged a teenager who allegedly provided drone surveillance during a mistaken identity underworld attack last week.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old was arrested in West Hoxton on Friday by the Raptor Squad and has been charged with murder over the death of Joshua Macdonald.<\/p>\n

Police allege officers seized a drone linked to the man that showed his involvement in the killing of the much-loved Western Sydney tradesman.<\/p>\n

Mr Macdonald, 40, was gunned down outside a home in Merrylands West in broad daylight on September 2.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Joshua Macdonald, pictured with his aunt Darlene, was 40 years old. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Police sources have since told the ABC the intended target was a member of the notorious Alameddine crime family.<\/p>\n

The gang’s senior members remain in Lebanon, but police believe a recent surge in violence is linked to a feud between them and the “Coconut Cartel”.<\/p>\n

The cartel operates a crime network in Western Sydney from overseas and takes its name from a historical slur against Pasifika people.<\/p>\n

Boosted powers to target Sydney’s gangsters, but police face a new problem<\/a><\/p>\n

They are the extraordinary powers the premier has promised to expand in a bid to combat gangland violence, but they face a major test in this era of organised crime.<\/p>\n

Mr Macdonald’s death marked the seventh mistaken identity fatality<\/a> linked to the conflict over the past 18 months.<\/p>\n

His death led to renewed focus on legislation targeting Sydney’s underworld.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old was refused bail and is due to front a Sydney bail court on Saturday.<\/p>\n

During the operation on Friday, a 19-year-old was also arrested and charged with participating in a criminal group and driving with a suspended licence.<\/p>\n

He was granted bail in Liverpool Local Court and is expected to face court again later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have charged a teenager who allegedly provided drone surveillance during a mistaken identity underworld attack last week.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[248114,458364,64,63,434278,458362,458361,44,4277,458365,458363,350495],"class_list":["post-888726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-coconut-cartel","tag-alameddine-family","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-drone-surveillance","tag-joshua-macdonald","tag-merrylands-west","tag-news","tag-nsw-police","tag-sydney-gang-war","tag-sydney-gangland-killing","tag-sydney-underworld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}