Shot dead in Vietnam: Sydney Gang War Spills Into HCMC as Coconut Cartel Figure Killed in Targeted Hit
Sydney police are on high alert for possible revenge attacks after the execution of a senior gangland figure in Vietnam.
Australian police were on high alert over fears of retaliatory violence after a suspected Sydney gangland figure was shot dead in Vietnam amid an escalating underworld feud linked to the city’s drug trade.
Coconut Cartel senior member Lorenzo Lemalu, 24, was shot dead outside a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on Thursday 21/5 night.
He was a senior figure in that group after cutting ties with a gang linked with Sydney’s Alameddine crime family.
It’s their wrestle for the drugs trade which has seen escalating violence across the city.
Police are now investigating if the shooting in Vietnam is linked to the ongoing feud.
A second member Sam Sauni, 27, of Campsie was also reportedly shot.
Sauni was seriously injured in the shooting but survived and remains in HCMC.
CCTV posted online showed Lemalu standing with a group on a footpath along a busy dining strip before he was gunned down at point blank range.
As shocked diners ran for cover, one of the victims fell onto the road but managed to crawl onto the footpath.
He was then dragged into a restaurant by a bystander to get help.
Another man was seen crouching down next to Lemalu’s bloodied body, trying to render first aid while speaking to staff.
Shocked bystanders were seen watching on metres away.
Photos show men lying covered with blood on the floor of a restaurant in the aftermath of the shooting.
Trang Bang Ward Police in Tay Ninh have released images and names of two Australian men Lang Kenny Trong Minh Do, 36, and White Justin John, 38, they want to speak to in connection with the shooting.
An alert issued by Trang Bang Ward Police in the nation’s south suggests the two men left HCMC in a taxi before crossing over the border into Cambodia.
“Authorities are urgently pursuing them and urge the public to remain vigilant,” international news reports said.
While police released CCTV photos showing the men getting into a lift, passport photos of the two suspects were also circulating in Sydney’s underworld on Friday.
Police in Australia are now monitoring for possible revenge attacks as investigators work with Vietnamese authorities to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting. (NQ)
