SYDNEY, Jan 9 AAP - Two brothers alleged to be top-ranking members of a brutal Brothers For Life gang faction run from western Sydney are behind bars.
Farhad Qaumi, 31, and Mumtaz Ahmed Qaumi, 29, appeared in the dock at Wyong Local Court on the NSW central coast on Thursday.
The elder brother, allegedly the leader of the Brothers For Life Blacktown chapter, appeared first.
He was flanked by several police officers and showed little emotion as his lawyer said he would not apply for bail and it was formally refused.
Then Mumtaz Qaumi was led into the courtroom. He, too, declined to apply for bail.
Police say the brothers were linked by a fraternity of a different kind: guns, drugs and gangs.
Both are named in court documents as directing the activities of the Brothers for Life's Blacktown chapter and accused of supplying a psychedelic drug sold under the street name Nexus.
Police say a battle between the Blacktown faction and its Bankstown sister chapter is responsible for shootings that have erupted across Sydney over the last four months.
Mumtaz Qaumi, of Wyong, has been charged with two counts of unauthorised possession of a pistol, one count of unauthorised possession of a shortened pump-action shotgun, three drug supply charges and one count of knowingly directing the criminal activities of a group.
His elder brother faces the same charges and an additional pistol possession charge.
The accusations date from November until last week, but do not appear to relate to the New Year's Day shooting-up of a cruiser in the Rose Bay suburb of Sydney, in which Farhad Qaumi was reportedly injured.
Both men are due to appear before Sydney's Central Local Court on March 7.
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