Are gangland figures being murdered by 'fly-in, fly-out' bikie hitmen? Police probe whether underworld killings are being carried out by motorcycle gang members who live overseas
- Eight murders of known gangland figures are now being probed by police
- Officers are searching for connections, including whether overseas bikie gangs could have taken out the hits
- Hitmen could have been flown in for the purpose of murder, it is reported
- Earliest death being investigated is that of Mark Easter in June last year
- Murders of Walid Ahmed, Hamad Assaad, and Pasquale Barbaro included
First it was Walid Ahmed, gunned down in a shopping centre; then it was Hamad Assaad, shot in front of his 12-year-old son at his Sydney home; and finally Pasquale Barbaro, executed in the street and left for the country to see.
Three gang slayings in four months that police now think could have been carried out on the orders of bikie gangs operating overseas with networks still in Australia.
And sources have also told the Daily Telegraph that the gangs could be using 'fly-in' assassins, brought to this country for the express purpose of murder.
Police are investigating the deaths of eight gangland figures, including hitmen Pasquale Barbaro (left) and Hamad Assaad (right), for possible connections
Investigators are believe to be looking into the involvement of bikie gangs based overseas and the possibility they are using 'fly-in' hitmen (pictured, Walid Ahmed, who was also killed)
Officers from New South Wales are now investigating the deaths of Ahmed, Assaad and Barbaro alongside the deaths of five other reputed gangsters to die in recent months amid fears the violence is linked.
Dubbed Task Force Osprey, the officers are probing bikie gangs such as the Hells Angels and Comancheros which they believe have links to Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries.
Home-grown networks such as the Rebels and are also being probed over their connection to the violence.
The trail of bloodshed being probed by police began back in June 2015 with the murder of rebels bikie Mark Easter (left) and continued in March with the killing of Michael Davey (right)
The bloodshed began in June last year, when bikie enforcer Mark Easter's bullet-riddled body was found near a highway to the north of Sydney.
That was followed by the death of fellow Rebels member Michael Davey who was executed in the driveway of his home in Kingswood in March.
Safwan Chabaji, 31, was then killed by bullet wounds to the chest and head during a fight between two Middle-Eastern gangs.
Less than a month later, gangland kingpin Walid 'Wally' Ahmed was cut down in a shopping mall outside a Bankstown cafe.
Horrified shoppers watched on as a man dressed all in black ran up to Ahmed's table before emptying an entire clip into his body and fleeing the scene.
Safwan Chabaji was the next to die, gunned down in April just 20 days before Ahmed was executed in broad daylight in a shopping mall
Adrian Buxton (right), a member of the Nomad bikie gang, was shot dead while putting out the bins in May and is also being investigated by the police task force
Nomad bikie Adrian Buxton was then killed in Clayton while putting out the bins, before Mehmet Yilmaz was gunned down in front of his fiancee outside a known Comanchero gang handout.
Assaad, who was a suspect in Buxton and Ahmed's killings, was then shot dead on the driveway of his Sydney home in October, before Pasquale Barbaro met a gruesome end on Sydney's streets.
While investigators are not linking the killings into a single spree, they are searching for connections between them.
One such connection could be the presence of hitmen flown in from overseas, while others could have been killed by local enforcers.