Gun traffic accused facing 40 years' jail
Brenden Hills
The Daily Telegraph
January 05, 2013 12:00AM
TWO men accused of being part of an illegal international gun shipping operation between the US and Australia face up to 40 years in jail.
US Link in arming of Insurgents in Sydney's Occupied Territories?
Magistrate Michael Morahan told Nafaf Chaouk and Mohamed Metleg of the possible maximum sentence they face when they appeared in Parramatta Local Court yesterday, accused of being part of the "gun supply route" between Nashville, Tennessee, and Sydney.
The pair will spend at least 35 days behind bars after Mr Morahan refused their bail application yesterday.
They were arrested on Thursday after US authorities asked Australian police to detain them for extradition to the US to face charges.
Chaouk, 44, (a resident of Guilford a suburb of Sydney's Occupied Territories)was arrested while working as a plasterer in Mona Vale on the northern beaches while Metleg, 31, was arrested at Mascot.
It followed a lengthy multi-national investigation into the alleged gun supply route.
NSW police and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service have been working on the investigation with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the US Drug Enforcement Administration since 2011.
The agencies had been investigating the illegal importation of firearms to Sydney from Nashville for several months and believe 20 guns have been sent to Sydney.
One of the handguns was seized along with six other firearms during a search warrant at Fairfield in January last year. Three people were also arrested in the US.
Chaouk's lawyer Tony Newton told the court he had only been given a basic outline of the US charges which related to "firearms and cocaine"."If they are being detained they are entitled to know exactly what they are charged with," Mr Newton said.
"The facts (provided) show no detail with what they have been charged with."
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