A key figure in Australia’s cocaine trade has been shot dead in his car in an underground car park in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with police treating the killing as an organised crime hit.
New South Wales police said on Tuesday they believed two shooters were involved in the murder of Alen Moradian but the investigation was still in its infancy.
“The shooting this morning bears the hallmarks of an organised crime murder,” Det Supt Danny Doherty said. “He’s a major player. He obviously had a big target on his back.”
Doherty said Moradian had links to the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle club.
Emergency services were called to Bondi Junction’s Spring Street about 8.30am after reports that a man sitting in a stationary car had been shot, police said.
Moradian, who has not yet been formally identified by police, was in his late 40s and died at the scene.
He was sentenced to at least six years in prison in 2011 for importing and selling a large quantity of cocaine.
During his trial, the court was told Moradian and his wife, Natasha Youkhana, lived a life of luxury, using drug money to buy property, designer furniture, jewellery, a wedding reception, luxury travel and accommodation.
An email showed Youkhana urging her husband to be more like “Tony Soprano”, fearing their over-the-top lifestyle would result in them getting caught.
“Why do you just sit there and show off – ‘I am the man, I am the man’?” the email, tendered in police facts, read.
“Do you see Tony Soprano doing that? He doesn’t care who people think is the boss, [money] is his number one priority. You, on the other hand, want the attention, you get a big head, you love it. People like that won’t survive.”
Police are appealing for people who may have witnessed anything suspicious in the lead up to the shooting on Tuesday morning or afterwards. They will examine CCTV footage from the surrounding area.
Detectives also examined a burnt-out Porsche found on James Street in Bondi Junction and a second burnt-out car – a Holden Commodore – found on Cook Lane in Zetland.
Three crime scenes have been established, which will be examined by specialist police.
A spokesperson for NSW Ambulance confirmed it had multiple vehicles on the scene. A single person had been involved and nobody had been taken to hospital, they said.
Waverley council earlier confirmed that parts of Bondi Junction between Spring and Denison streets would be closed to all traffic, pedestrians and cyclists for a number of hours.
“Please avoid the area,” it posted on social media.
🚫 IMPORTANT UPDATE 🚫
— Waverley Council (@WaverleyCouncil) June 26, 2023
A police operation is taking place between Spring St (cnr Newland St) and Denison St in Bondi Junction.
This part of Bondi Junction is closed to all traffic, pedestrians and cyclists for the next few hours. Please avoid the area.
A worker at Lumiza Cafe on Spring Street said the street had been shut off to traffic. “I didn’t hear anything, I was serving customers,” she said, adding: “Police are still outside now.”
Police said nobody had been arrested in relation to the shooting.
The premier, Chris Minns, assured the public the “full force of the law” would be used to bring those involved in the shooting to justice.
“This was a very public, violent crime, and we’ve been assured by the NSW police that it will be met with the full force of the law,” he said in parliament on Tuesday.
“There is a major police investigation currently taking place in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and I’ve got no doubt that senior police in great numbers are focusing on this crime as we speak.”
