An alleged drug dealer has been arrested again as soon as he walked out of a Sydney courtroom, this time in relation to the shooting death of a father-of-four in city's south-west.
Ahmed Refaieh, 27, appeared before Central Local Court in Sydney on Tuesday morning, on large commercial drug supply charges. He was arrested in April as part of Strike Force Taipan, one of the longest and most successful crackdowns on organised crime in the city.
But when he left the courtroom, homicide detectives were waiting outside waiting. They took Mr Refaieh in for questioning over the death of Ali Eid, 38, who was shot dead in a brazen daytime execution at Punchbowl in November 2012.
Mr Eid was doing tiling work on the half-finished property he was building for his young family in Lumeah Avenue. An electrician who also working on the home, Mohammed Hanouf, was also shot but survived the attack.
Three weeks after Mr Eid was killed, his wife's cousin, Bachir Arja, 28, known as Barry, was killed in a targeted execution less than a kilometre away in Owen Street, Punchbowl.
Mr Refaieh was handcuffed and led away in front of dozens of reporters, photographers and cameramen. He was taken to Sydney's Day Street police station on Tuesday afternoon and questioned over the shooting.
He was later charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
In a bail application when he appeared in Central Local Court for a second time on Tuesday, it was alleged that Mr Refaieh murdered Mr Eid in an act of retribution over money he was owed for a drug deal.
The court heard the case against the 27-year-old was largely circumstantial however there was CCTV footage and he had made admissions to Crown witnesses.
Mr Arja had also given a statement to police about Mr Eid's death before he too was killed, the court was told.
In applying for bail, Mr Refaieh's solicitor, Hassan Hallak, told the court his client would offer $20,000 on top of the $50,000 already surrendered when he was granted bail on the drugs charges.
Magistrate Les Mabbutt refused him bail, saying Mr Refaieh had a long criminal history dating back to 2005 and there was too high a risk he would continue to offend while on bail.
Police said on Tuesday that their investigation into the shooting was ongoing and the court heard that there would five or six co-accused.
Witnesses to the November 2012 shooting said at the time that two men wearing balaclavas and black clothing fired up to eight shots at the two men and then jumped a fence and ran away.
Mr Eid's widow, Sanaa El Arja, said on Tuesday she didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she was informed of the breakthrough arrest.
"I'm happy but it just brings all those memories back again," she said. "I'm trying to move on with my life, I'm trying to be the best mother I can."
She was left to care for the couple's four children when Mr Eid died. Her youngest was two months old at the time.
"He's grown up missing that father figure," she said. "It's been difficult. I'm the mother, I'm the father, I'm the grocer, I'm everything."
She said the trauma had been unbearable.
"It's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," she said.
Ms El Arja said she had heard the accused man's name before but didn't want to disclose any details about the court case.
