A teenager with alleged ties to an offshore crime syndicate has been charged amid an investigation into handwritten notes left at several city shopfronts.
Police believe the 17-year-old may be involved in completing criminal tasks on behalf of The Commission, which has links to a drug kingpin serving a life sentence in Iraq, Kazem Hamad.
About 19 reported incidents of handwritten or typed notes asking owners to call The Commission across Melbourne and regional locations have been linked to the syndicate, investigators have confirmed.
Detectives charged the teenage boy on Friday after executing a search warrant at a home in the Moonee Valley area.
He was charged with drug trafficking offences, dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime, possessing counterfeit money and failing to provide information to police.
Eight mobile phones, a large number of SIM cards, traffickable quantities of drugs of dependence, fake currency and cash believed to be the proceeds of crime were seized from his address.
Operation Eclipse Detective Inspector Graham Banks said police were trying to target every level of the syndicate.
"We are quite often arresting youths who were not previously known to police and who have had no prior police contact," he said in a statement.
“Lured by the prospect of what they are told is some easy cash and anonymity behind encrypted devices, young people are committing serious criminal offences which have grave or life-changing ramifications.
"This is not easy cash - these threats are playing with people’s livelihoods and their own sense of safety and it will not be tolerated."
Operation Eclipse was established in April to target the organised crime syndicate responsible for arson attacks on nightclubs and restaurants across Melbourne, as well against people associated to those businesses.
The operation has now expanded its focus to include other acts of violence.
The 17-year-old boy will appear before a children’s court at a later date.
