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Gun found at Ibrahim family home in Sydney

A loaded 9mm semi-automatic Beretta handgun seized from the home of Wahiba Ibrahim.

A loaded 9mm semi-automatic Beretta handgun seized from the home of Wahiba Ibrahim. Photo: AAP

The huge home built by Sydney nightclub figure John Ibrahim for his mother has been raided one week after a major police operation landed two of her sons and a grandson behind bars.

Wahiba Ibrahim’s two-storey residence in Merrylands, western Sydney, sits on the site where the four Ibrahim boys grew up in a housing commission property.

Uniformed and plain clothed officers on Wednesday searched the home and left with armfuls of evidence including a loaded semi-automatic handgun and “various calibres” of ammunition.

“A 69-year-old woman was spoken to at the home with the assistance of an interpreter but no arrests have been made,” NSW Police said in a statement.

When John Ibrahim bought his mother a Dover Heights mansion in 2000, Ms Ibrahim expressed discomfort being so close to a cliff.

Instead, he bought and knocked down her original Merrylands property to make way for a more lavish home.

Both the Merrylands home and John Ibrahim’s own Dover Heights mansion have been raided during operation Veyda.

On Tuesday last week hundreds of federal police officers swooped on various properties of interest across Sydney.

John Ibrahim has not been charged but police say they busted a significant drug smuggling conspiracy that spanned three countries and implicated two of his brothers, Michael and Fadi, as well as his son Daniel.

The brothers were among five men arrested in Dubai and are in the process of being extradited.

Eighteen people in total have been charged, and police say the operation prevented two tonnes of illicit drugs reaching Australian shores, including 1.8 tonnes of MDMA, 136 kilograms of cocaine and 15 kilograms of crystal meth.

The haul, which had an estimated street value of $810 million, was intercepted in the Netherlands in July.

John Ibrahim

Police searched the home of Kings Cross figure John Ibrahim in connection to alleged drug-smuggling. Photo: AAP

Daniel Ibrahim, who also goes by the name Daniel Taylor, was arrested for allegedly handing over $2.25 million to buy illegal tobacco as part of a deal allegedly masterminded by his uncle, Michael Ibrahim.

Michael Ibrahim’s cousin, Fares Derbas, was also caught up in the sting.

Both Taylor and John Ibrahim’s model girlfriend, Sarah Budge, were granted bail after court appearances last week.

Budge is not involved in the drug-smuggling syndicate but has faced court on firearms and ammunition charges.

Underworld figures Mustapha Dib and Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad were also arrested in Dubai.

Wednesday’s Merrylands raid was the result of investigations by the NSW firearms squad rather than operation Veyda.

-AAP

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