Kyle Sandilands slams John Ibrahim house raid by Sydney police
POLICE searching the clifftop mansion of Sydney identity John Ibrahim won’t find guns, but they might find sex toys, according to long time friend Kyle Sandilands.
Police and sniffer dogs swooped on the luxury Dover Heights home on Tuesday morning after serving Mr Ibrahim, 40, with a firearm prohibition order.
A NSW Police spokesman confirmed the order had been served and the operation kicked off about 10.30am. In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, NSW Police said they had “located and seized cash” but did not refer to weapons.
Pictures from the Ibrahim home in one of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs show police searching the rooftop of the three-storey building while a man believed to be Mr Ibrahim watches on.
Sniffer dogs were used to search the cliff-face and bushes near the property.
Sandilands arrived at the Dover Heights address on Tuesday afternoon where he spoke with waiting media.
“There’s no guns here,” he said when asked by a reporter if he knew what police were looking for.
“They’ve been here like 40 times. They’ve pulled out walls. Stop wasting money. All he does now is read his own book and watch TV.
“I don’t know what they’re after, it’s a waste of time.”
Sandilands shut down a question about what might be in a locked safe in an upstairs room at the Ibrahim mansion.
“I’ve never seen the safe. Last time it was just full of sex toys,” he said.
A spokesman for Mr Ibrahim told The Daily Telegraph the raid “constitutes an abuse of process and power”.
“Mr Ibrahim intends to vigorously challenge that provision of that order (and) emphatically rejects any suggestion, express or implied, of any involvement in any illegal activity, and regards the continued and sustained harassment by the NSW Police as unwarranted.”
The legislation was introduced in 2013 giving police greater powers to search for firearms or ammunition without a warrant.
NSW Police handed out 18 Firearm Prohibition Orders in locations including Lakemba, Campbelltown, Mt Druitt, Rhodes and Guildford last week.
Strike Force Raptor officers also searched homes and seized weapons and ammunition from a number of locations around Sydney.
Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy told reporters the crackdown was a direct response to increased gun-related crime across Sydney.
“This strategy will continue and we won’t stop,” he said.
Mr Ibrahim says he’s “Mr Legit now, but I’m definitely no saint”. The Kings Cross identity owned nightclubs from 1988 to 2014 where he says in his book Last King of The Cross that he was “shot, stabbed and a broken bag of bones”.
“In my occupation I inevitably cross paths with drug dealers, straight cops, crooked cops, crime syndicates, standover guys, kids targeting me with drive-by shootings, and plastic gangsters who want what I’ve got, only without working for it,” he wrote.
Mr Ibrahim paid $150,000 to the NSW Crime Commission in 2006 in a proceeds of crime deal after it was alleged he was involved in “illegal activities”.
The deal, which was kept secret until 2011, did not involve Mr Ibrahim admitting to any criminal activity. The evidence against his has remained confidential.
In October, 2004, Mr Ibrahim was charged with threatening a witness. The charges never stuck because a District Court Judge Michael Finnane found the evidence was improperly obtained,” the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Mr Ibrahim’s girlfriend Sarah Budge was arrested on gun possession charges in 2017. The charges are pending after the 28-year-old elected to waive her right to a committal hearing and go straight to trial in the District Court.
Mr Ibrahim is not facing any charges.
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