NSW:Three arrests by heavily armed officers

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2011
NSW:Three arrests by heavily armed officers

SYDNEY, Feb 15 AAP - Three people have been arrested after heavily armed officers swooped
on a home in western Sydney, although police can't say the incident is linked to a recent
drive-by shooting.

Police descended on the home at Hoxton Park shortly after 4pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

"They went to do a high-risk search warrant to do with firearm offences," police media told AAP.

When officers went inside they discovered there was no one there, although three people
were stopped in a car on a nearby street a short time later. They are currently in police
custody.

The police spokesman was unable to confirm reports the arrests were in connection with
the shooting in the stomach of a 39-year-old man at Leppington on Tuesday, when a van
in which he was sitting was sprayed with bullets.

The victim, from Rosemeadow, was sitting in the back of a van with two other men about
1.15am (AEDT) when a white Subaru car pulled in front of them and stopped.

The van was then hit by a hail of bullets and the man was shot in the abdomen.

The other men in the van, who were unhurt, have been helping police to establish why
they were targeted in the attack.

It's the second shooting in western Sydney in as many days after three men were shot
at Old Guildford on Sunday night.

A nephew of nightclub owner John Ibrahim is believed to have been among those wounded
when several shots were fired in a clash between two groups of men on Sunday.

Three men aged 23, 19 and 18 were wounded and taken to hospital.

AAP tr/dep

KEYWORD: SHOOTING ARREST

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