THREE people remain behind bars after strike force police swarmed a Hunter business amid an investigation into organised crime.
Two men and a woman made no applications for bail in Maitland Local Court on Friday after they were arrested on Thursday.
Adel Fajloun, 42, Sione Matekuolava Vahai, 20, and Rami Yousif Mohammad Aldhaher, 31, were charged overnight after police raided a shop at Stockland Green Hills in East Maitland on Thursday.
The trio face 58 allegations between them, stemming from a months-long drug and firearm supply investigation by a Raptor Squad team condenamed Strike Force Stranraer.
The woman and two men were not required to enter any pleas, and each had their matters adjourned to Newcastle Local Court in December.
Strike Force Stranraer - launched in May 2023 to investigate organised crime in the Hunter - simultaneously raided locations at East Maitland, Maitland, Rutherford and Metford on October 26, as well as in the Sydney area.
The searches allegedly uncovered $200,000 in cash, a loaded firearm, a Porsche, a Toyota Hilux, a BMW and nine kilograms of cannabis with a street value of $272,000, which were seized for forensic testing.
Police allege Fajloun, Vahai and Aldhaher were involved in supplying illicit drugs and firearms to organised crime networks.
Witnesses told the Newcastle Herald they watched on inside a busy shopping centre in broad daylight while plain-clothed and uniformed police officers swarmed the Stockland Green Hills business.
The operation unfolded across several hours.
Strike Force Stranraer investigations continue.
