Coconut Cartel cracked: Police claim they have dismantled violent new gang terrorising the streets of Sydney

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 16:11, 28 May 2026 | Updated: 16:11, 28 May 2026 The so-called Coconut Cartel, which has been responsible for much of the gang violence on Sydney streets in the last year has been smashed, police claim.  On Wednesday and Thursday, raids were carried out across the city scooping up mid-tier members of the gang which have been involved in a bloody feud with the Alameddine crime network. Last month, the Australian head of the Coconut Cartel, Henry Kupa, was arrested in connection with 390kg of methamphetamine police found hidden in buckets at an Emu Plains property. The 27-year-old had allegedly facilitated multiple large-scale drug importations under the direction of Anthony Pele, who is on the run in South East Asia. The other senior member in the cartel, Lorenzo Lemalu, was shot dead in an assassination outside a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam last week. The Coconut Cartel is understood to be made up of members from the KVT gang, which had allegedly provided muscle for the Alameddines before they turned on them. 'We have been able to arrest not just the onshore principals, and the onshore co-ordinators, but also many of the contract criminals and facilitators that are supporting this organised crime network in NSW,' Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook alleged. 'The ability for us to infiltrate that network and that sequence of events has been very important for us and has helped us suppress the violence.' Raids were carried out on Wednesday and Thursday against alleged member of a Sydney gang known as the Coconut Cartel The group has been feuding with the Alameddine crime network The onshore boss of the cartel was arrested in connection with 390kg of meth found in buckets at an Emu Plains property 'Those people hiding in other countries, and who are complicit in causing the violence in NSW, we know who you are, we know where you are, and we are working together with our Australian and international law enforcement partners to hunt you down.' 'For a long time, we've been playing catch-up. For the first time, we think we're on par,' Cook said. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.