NSW: Raid may have averted murders, say police.

AAP General News (Australia)
02-12-2001
NSW: Raid may have averted murders, say police.

Police say a dramatic weekend raid in central Sydney has thwarted a series of planned
executions of rival Asian gang members.

Around 80 heavily-armed officers stormed a George Street Internet cafe in the heart
of the city's cinema strip late on Saturday night.

The targets of the operation, members of the Triad-linked Wa Sing Wa group, managed
to slip the net.

However, Assistant Commissioner DICK ADAMS says the raid was a success because it averted
the planned execution murders of a number of rival gang members.

Police sources say up to a dozen armed Wa Sing Wa members were spotted on the premises
earlier in the evening.

It's understood they were there to deliver a payback to members of the Big Circle Boys
gang following a brawl at a Chinatown Karaoke bar involving both groups.

Five men were arrested following the raid but were later released after police were
satisfied they were not gang members.

AAP RTV jk/rp/hn/jn

KEYWORD: GANGS (SYDNEY)

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