VIC:Police alert for Chaouk revenge

AAP General News (Australia)
08-14-2010
VIC:Police alert for Chaouk revenge

By Steve Lillebuen

MELBOURNE, Aug 14 AAP - Police across the country are on alert for revenge attacks
after the slaying of Melbourne crime family patriarch Macchour Chaouk.

The highly charged feud between the Chaouk family and a rival clan has worried investigators,
who have notified both interstate and federal police agencies of a potential escalation
in violence.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones has called for calm and warned anyone
contemplating revenge in the wake of the Friday shooting that avengers will be caught.

"In relation to the death of Macchour Chaouk, Victoria Police continues to take active
steps in a number of Melbourne communities to guard against any risk of escalation," he
said in a statement.

"In this, Victoria Police is being actively assisted by federal and state law enforcement
agencies."

It's believed the Chaouks have links to Lebanese crime gangs in Sydney, while courts
have heard they have access to weapons and are involved in an "ongoing war" with the rival
Haddara family.

The Chaouk family has already vowed revenge for the death of its 65-year-old patriarch,
saying "the weak, dirty dogs killed him on Ramadan" in a statement obtained by The Age
newspaper.

"His blood does not come cheap, especially in Ramadan," it says.

A family spokesman told the newspaper: "Every dog has its day."

Macchour Chaouk was gunned down about 11am on Friday in the backyard of his fortified
Brooklyn home in Melbourne's west by a drive-by shooter.

His wife, another family member and three young children were home at the time and
ran to his side before he died minutes later.

The youngest of Chaouk's five sons, Omar, was embraced by a group of family and friends
outside the home following the shooting.

He is on bail after the seizure of guns, ammunition and blank passports at the home last month.

Detectives let Omar view his father's body for about 20 minutes after they had secured
the house with Special Operations Group officers.

Late on Friday police arrested a 57-year-old man in connection with Chaouk's death.

Homicide detectives will resume questioning the Altona North man on Saturday. He has
not yet faced an out-of-sessions court.

Hours after the Chaouk shooting, a shooting rampage tore up a pokies venue on busy
Lygon Street, sparking fears that revenge attacks had already begun.

Two men died in the shooting at Players on Lygon in Carlton while a suspect was quickly arrested.

He too is being questioned by detectives on Saturday.

Sir Ken said on Saturday that investigators had now completely ruled out any links
between the two shootings.

AAP sbl/jl/de

KEYWORD: CHAOUK UPDATE (PIX AVAILABLE)

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