More than 100 people were charged during the two-day operation, with police allegedly seizing 18 firearms, 672 rounds of ammunition, almost $100,000 cash, and a variety of prohibited drugs including methylamphetamine, MDMA, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and cannabis, with an estimated street value of more than $1.2 million.
Police executed 66 Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) searches and crime scene warrants, charging 115 people with a combined 292 offences. They also completed more than 450 bail compliance checks and almost 200 business inspections.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Police, Paul Toole said further targeted operations will continue for as long as they are needed.
“If you’re a criminal in Sydney, it’s now abundantly clear there is nowhere to hide – and that you’ll be leaving your current lifestyle behind for a set of prison greens and some plastic cutlery in the near future,” Mr Toole said.
“The NSW government will stop at nothing to ensure our communities are safe, and that police remain well-equipped to eradicate these people from our streets using any legislative means that are necessary.”
State Crime Commander, Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, said the intelligence driven exercise led police to interact with almost all the 310 identified targets over the course of the two-day operation.
“In recent weeks we have taken out the controllers and coordinators of various criminal syndicates and there’s more to come – but Hawk was about the henchmen,” he said.
“This was about targeting the blind followers of these groups; people with a complete disregard for the safety of the community and those who think they may be able to fill the void and take over.
“The type of violent criminality we’ve seen from these types won’t continue and we’ve met it with a requisite level of force; the results of which will continue to bear fruit in the coming weeks.”
