POLICE BID TO RECLAIM THE STREETS

More than 30 uniformed officers and sniffer dogs last night patrolled
streets in Sydney's south west where two warring ethnic gangs trying
to control the drug trade and prostitution have been involved in a
rash of shootings. Senior police officers revealed two gangs of Middle
Eastern men from the Bankstown/Punchbowl region were engaged in the
territorial war.

Last night's patrols used their stop, search and seize powers to
target known or suspected criminals.

Just a little further along the Hume Hwy, police were attempting to
control several Asian gangs fighting to control the lucrative heroin
trade.

Yesterday, a man in his 20s was stabbed to death in a Cabramatta car
park during a fight with a group of men described as being of South
East Asian appearance. Police were last night hunting for his killer.

There have been almost 40 shootings and at least two murders in the
past four months.

Some of the related incidents in the past week alone
include:

Shots fired into a McDonald's restaurant in Canterbury Rd, Punchbowl
on Tuesday night;

An ambulance taking a shooting victim to hospital being run off the
road by a group of armed men on Monday;

Another Punchbowl restaurant was the scene of a shooting early Sunday
morning.

But despite the apparent rise in violent attacks, the Cabramatta local
area police command was late last year downgraded from a category 1 to
a category 2 crime region.

Police chiefs use the index 96 based on the number of assaults, thefts
and robberies 96 to allocate resources.

Commander of the Georges River Region Ike Ellis yesterday said police
were concerned by the rise in crime, but wanted to reassure the
community these incidents were not random.

Commander Ellis said police intelligence had identified the Middle
Eastern battleground as being over street prostitution and drug
distribution.

"It's about people in conflict about unlawful activities in those
areas," he said. "It isn't out of control. There's never been a period
in that area where crime has been out of control. Police and the
community have control of the streets in and around Bankstown.

"It's a selective group of people who are outwardly displaying their
criminal activity and that's why we are addressing it with these
proactive operations."

Mr Ellis said Operation Pericos, operating in the Bankstown area since
last October, had charged 229 people with almost 600 offences
including drug possession and break and enters.

This month, 26 have been arrested on 72 charges.

Opposition police spokesman Andrew Tink demanded Police Commissioner
Peter Ryan immediately lift the Cabramatta police command's crime
category ranking.

Premier Bob Carr said he had been assured by police that "all stops"
were being pulled out to combat the problem.