Dramatic moment cops storm luxury Sydney penthouse of alleged senior crime figure Mohamad Alameddine and arrest him in his dressing gown

An alleged major Australian crime figure has been arrested in a dramatic dawn raid in his multimillion-dollar Sydney apartment. 

Mohamad Alameddine, 40, was detained after cops found wads of cash and a mobile phone concealed in fire extinguisher cupboards within the complex. 

Police initially went to his three-bedroom penthouse in the city centre on April 9 to do a firearm prohibition compliance check, but found nothing illegal inside the unit.

Footage showed officers kicking at the door of the apartment demanding the owner open it, with a colleague standing nearby holding a battering ram.

The door was then opened from the inside and police walked in.

Alameddine was seen dressed in a bathrobe and leaning against a wall. 

Police allegedly found $13,000 in one nearby fire extinguisher cupboard and a mobile phone in another, which were seized for forensic testing. 

Detectives allege the DNA tests link the money and phone to Alameddine, who is a Comanchero bikie gang associate, and went back to his apartment on Tuesday at 7.30am to arrest him. 

Alameddine was taken to Day St police station in the CBD and charged with two counts of contravening a serious crime prevention order and failing to comply with digital evidence access order direction in relation to the phone. 

His arrest is part of an operation targeting alleged crime figures using firearm prohibition compliance orders.

'These operations are to let those in this milieu know we are watching them,' a senior officer told the Daily Telegraph.

'Some of these people are also potential targets for execution so having us swarm around where they are living lets their enemies know if they try anything there is a risk we are not far away.'

Alameddine reportedly recently moved to the CBD from south-west Sydney as he feared for his life amid rising tensions in the criminal underworld.

Those tensions have heightened since June 2023 when crime boss Alen Moradian was executed in Bondi Junction. 

There is no suggestion that Alameddine is connected in any way to Moradian's killing. 

Under crime prevention orders, his movements are restricted and he has to inform the police where he is living and what mobile phone and car he uses.

Alameddine, who is not related to the notorious Sydney crime family of the same name, is expected to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.