Five Brimbank men have been charged with firearm and drug trafficking offences after pre-dawn raids across Melbourne’s north-west last Tuesday.
Police said 100 kilograms of dried cannabis was seized from a North Sunshine address, while a clandestine laboratory was discovered in Sunshine as part of the operation.
More than 700 police executed 45 search warrants at properties across the northern and western suburbs.
Warrants were issued following an investigation by the Santiago taskforce, which was set up in October 2008 to address serious and organised crime including shooting incidents involving a number of families and their associates.
Sunshine North men Minh Pham, 55, and Dung Pham, 49, and St Albans man Andy Cao, 35, have been charged with trafficking a drug of dependence and firearms offences.
The Phams will face a committal mention on July 22, while Cao was remanded until April 16. None of the three men applied for bail.
Keilor Downs man Ali Elissa, 35, was charged with illegally possessing a firearm. Duy Pham, 30, of Sunshine North, was charged with trafficking and possessing a commercial quantity of cannabis.
Elissa was remanded in custody until July 22, but is expected to make a bail application on March 25. Pham will face a committal mention on June 10.
Eight properties across Brimbank were raided – in Roseberry Avenue, Keilor Downs; Harley Street and Hampshire Crescent, Sunshine; Rosewall and Busch streets and Augusta Crescent, Sunshine North; Edgewater Circuit, Cairnlea; and Mayne Street, Sunshine West. In total, 27 people were arrested.
A Sunshine North man, 27, was released pending summons on trafficking and drug possession charges, and a St Albans man was released without charge.
