Gang's number plates taunt police

Violent gang members are taunting police by driving around Sydney in expensive cars with number plates that use the initials of police squads. At the scene of a fatal shooting of a Brothers 4 Life member in Revesby Heights yesterday were two cars with the plates MEOC and MEOC 63.

MEOCS is the acronym used by NSW Police for the specialist Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, which targets ethnic-based crime, particularly in southwestern Sydney. Brothers 4 Life are one of their main targets. Parked outside the unit block where Mahmoud Hamzy was shot dead early yesterday was a $150,000 Mustang with the number plate MEOC and a $100,000 Mercedes with MEOC 63.

Hamzy, 25, was the cousin of Bassam Hamzy, one of Australia's most notorious gangsters and the founder of the Brothers 4 Life gang. Mahmoud Hamzy died at the scene about 12.30am when as many as three gunmen sprayed a garage with bullets. Omar Ajaj, a 24-year-old associate, suffered wounds to the stomach and leg. Initial ballistics reports indicate two weapons were used.

Although the murder victim had no criminal record, police had 60 intelligence reports on his criminal activity. Inside the home when the killers opened fire was another cousin and Brothers 4 Life member Hamoudi Hamzy. Other family members, including his wife, escaped unharmed. A young man who pulled up at the crime scene in Bardo Circuit about 7am was in the silver Mustang, which is registered to the unlicensed Hamoudi.

"It was like fireworks and an early New Year's Eve,'' the young man said before getting back in the Mustang and driving off. Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said the group was nothing but a loose association of cowards who were "not very good at what they do''. He said gangs using police squad acronyms on number plates was an issue for the government to deal with and police were powerless to act.

A check of the personalised number plate registry revealed seven registration variations using MEOC have been bought for $440 a year. They include MEOC, MEOCS, MEOC 51, MEOC 52, MEOC 56, MEOC 58 and MEOC 63. NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said: "It's insulting and stupid. There should be a no-go policy relating to people registering cars with police squad acronyms.''

A neighbour at Revesby Heights said he was woken by as many as 10 gunshots outside the recently built 40-plus unit complex and then heard a car speeding off. "Maximum 10, I believe, I am not sure, - I have never used weapons in my life," the witness said. "I would say it wasn't automatic because the space between (each shot). Wasn't automatic. Of course I am concerned. I have only lived here two, three months and in two weeks I'll be out."

Police have formed Strike Force Roxana to investigate the shootings. However Police Minister Michael Gallacher last night declined to comment on whether the government would move to ban the offending number plates.

Read about the history of the Brothers 4 Life here