From the outside, unit 24 looked as unassuming and legitimate as any other inside the modern Sydney apartment complex.
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Police uncover 'highly disciplined' crime group
A police investigation is looking into an organised crime group known as "Sultani's crew" that allegedly moved drugs and firearms and also carried out contract killings. Vision courtesy Seven Network.
Yet when police busted inside on August 31, they allegedly uncovered the tools the group known as "Sultani's crew" was using to ply its trade.
There were 13 guns, including an automatic assault rifle and pistols fitted with silencers, ballistic vests, five jerrycans filled with petrol, three NSW Police shirts, cable ties, bleach, gloves and disposable overalls.
![Sultani was arrested at Olympic Park in November.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/1/3/m/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
Police allege the leader of the organised crime group behind this Concord safe house was moving significant amounts of drugs and firearms, carried out a high-profile gangland hit and took up a contract for another killing.
Masters degree student Abuzar "Abs" Sultani was at the centre of a sweeping police investigation in recent weeks that had him and several members of his group charged after the slaying of crime figure Pasquale Barbaro.
The inner workings of the clan, which has been active for at least three years, can now be revealed after intrinsic details were tendered in court.
Sultani and three associates – Joshua Baines and Mirwais Danishyar, both 24, and Siar Munshizada, 28, were charged on November 29 with Barbaro's alleged murder.
![Police seized and searched cars from the basement of Sultani's apartment block in Olympic Park on November 29.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/0/5/7/d/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
Detectives are also investigating links between Barbaro's execution in Earlwood on November 15 and three other gangland shootings. The cases are four of the eight investigations that are part of Strike Force Osprey.
According to facts tendered in court, Sultani was at the helm of the "highly organised, co-ordinated and disciplined" group, which had origins in the Rebels bikie gang's Burwood chapter.
![Pasquale Barbaro, 35, (second right) was shot dead in Earlwood in Sydney's west.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/p/w/n/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
Police allege Sultani, who was studying an MBA at Macquarie University before his arrest, was the chapter's president in 2014, with Munshizada and Seyed "Moe" Hosseinshoja both acting as the sergeant at arms.
However, in a bid to avoid detection, Sultani's associates later distanced themselves from the club and its reputation but maintained a strict hierarchy.
![Several bags of evidence were taken from Sultani's apartment in Australia Avenue.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/z/o/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
The group and Sultani operated a "sophisticated network of companies", many linked to the construction industry, to allegedly launder money, and had access to weapon and drug safe houses in Sydney.
The safe house uncovered at an Ada Street unit in Concord earlier this year was leased under the name of a stranger. Police later uncovered that man's personal identification details, used on a job application, on the computer of Mustafa Shekeb, a fellow Rebels associate.
![Police search Larkhall Avenue in Earlwood after Mr Barbaro was shot dead.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/p/c/d/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
Another property raid in September 2015 in Dundas Valley uncovered 200 litres of drug manufacture byproduct, many rounds of ammunition and clothing soaked in buckets of bleach, the facts state.
Along with charges for Barbaro's murder, Sultani is also accused of carrying out large-scale drug deals, including methamphetamine, MDMA and heroin, at various locations around Sydney.
![A white van was seen in the area of bushland where Rebels bikie Mark Easter's body was found in 2015.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/g/1/b/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
Police allege the Afghanistan-born 27-year-old provided BlackBerry phones with encrypted messaging to his associates to help them operate outside the reach of law enforcement.
Xiu Yuan "Raymond" Zhu, who has been charged with participating in a criminal group, is accused of carrying out logistics for the group at the behest of Sultani.
![Detectives are looking at links between this car, which may have been used in the killing of Mehmet Yilmaz in September, ...](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/g/1/b/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
One night in October, inside Sultani's upmarket apartment in Olympic Park, Zhu explained the BlackBerry's encryption features.
"So the burn pass code is four zeroes, that makes it easy to burn," he said, according to the facts.
![Siar Munshizada is charged with the murder of Sydney crime figure Pasquale Barbaro.](/web/20161222060239im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/1/6/4/m/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtfuiu.png/1482325985840.jpg)
"It won't just wipe it, it fires the whole circuit board."
The group had used 31 vehicles, swapping and changing cars, registered in company and personal names, on a regular basis and without notice, police allege.
After hearing one of his members had ripped off the group to the tune of $70,000, Sultani, Munshizada and Baines allegedly broke his jaw, ribs and both arms during an assault at the back of a St Mary's kebab shop.
Despite his injuries, the victim, who was allegedly involved in firearms, was accepted back into the group after Sultani cleared him of wrongdoing.
On another occasion, in February 2016, Sultani, Munshizada and Baines went to Pinegrove Cemetery to carry out surveillance on a person they allegedly planned to kill.
Sultani and Munshizada drove one car while Baines drove a van carrying firearms, police allege.
"The plan to locate and shoot the target was abandoned after a car, thought to be a police vehicle, was seen inside the cemetery ..." according to the facts.
Sultani is also accused of accepting a lucrative contract to kill former Rebels enforcer Ricky Ciano at his Central Coast home.
The cases of Sultani and several of his associates were mentioned in Burwood Local Court on Tuesday and adjourned to March 3.
It came as police released CCTV footage of several cars linked to the three separate gangland shootings of Rebels figures Mark Easter and Michael Davey, and Comanchero associate Mehmet Yilmaz.