The alleged target of one of two dramatic police raids on Wednesday has ridiculed police and laughed at allegations that threats were made to shoot up a police station.
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Two houses in Merrylands were raided at dawn on Wednesday after alleged threats were made to attack Merrylands police station.
Osman Haouchar, 26, who has one missing eye, returned to his home in Blackwood Road, Merrylands, after it was stormed by police from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad and Tactical Operations Unit.
"I would like to thank the NSW Police Force for once again wasting Australian taxpayers' money," he told reporters.
Asked if police detailed what they were looking for in his single-level brick home, Mr Haouchar replied: "No."
"The NSW Police are wasting the money of taxpayers that could be used for other things," he said.
Asked if he threatened to shoot up Merrylands police station, he laughed and walked away.
Mr Haoucher recently returned from the Turkey-Syrian border where he claims he had been carrying out humanitarian work.
He left Australia about the time police wanted to talk to him about the shooting of Michael, the younger brother of nightclub boss John Ibrahim.
His Facebook page contains photos of him at humanitarian camps, playing with children and helping children.
However, authorities are sceptical of his activities overseas, with at least one family associate suspected of travelling to Syria in the past.
"It is not like he was over there giving out toothbrushes," one source told Fairfax Media last week.
Mr Haoucher was questioned by the Australian Federal Police on his return to Sydney last week but was later released.
His sister was married to a man who reached "martyrdom", according to a friend, and was killed in the Middle East last year. His brothers are well-known to police across Sydney.
Police conducted Wednesday's raid to search for firearms that might be in the possession of individuals subjected to Firearms Prohibition Orders.
Fairfax Media understands that at least one occupant in Mr Haouchar's home in Blackwood Road and one in the home of the Alameddines in nearby Lockwood Street are subjected to Firearm Prohibition Orders.
The orders prohibit certain individuals from owning or using firearms and give police enhanced search powers to search a person, their property or their vehicles without a warrant.
Fairfax Media understands the raids on the Alameddine and Haouchar family homes were a "disruptive tactic".
State Crime Commander, Assistant Commissioner Mark Jenkins, said the operation was about ensuring the safety of police and the community, and followed information about the threat against a police station in greater Sydney involving a firearm.
"Any threat to police officers or police premises is of major concern and taken extremely seriously, as demonstrated by the operation we undertook today," he said.
"We will continue to take every precaution necessary to protect our officers and the safety of the wider community, and will respond swiftly to any specific threats that are received.
"This matter remains under investigation."
