Bankstown safer after gang arrests: cops Nine Brothers 4 Life gang associates face drug charges after morning raids in southwestern Sydney. POLICE say Sydney will be a little safer after making another big dent in the city's illegal drug trade and arresting more members of the notoriously violent gang Brothers 4 Life. Drugs, weapons and cash were seized in raids in southwest Sydney on Tuesday. Nine Brothers 4 Life associates, aged between 16 and 58, were arrested and charged with a total of 70 drug and gang offences. Bankstown Local Area Commander, Superintendent Dave Eardley, said police were confident the arrests would seriously disrupt their drug syndicate. "I'd like to say to the community, you can take a lot of reassurance from the effort we are making to try to rid our streets from illicit drugs," he said on Wednesday. We won't rest here, we will continue our efforts. Supt Eardley said he believed the drug trade underpinned violent crime and these arrests would benefit the community. If we target the drug trade trafficking then hopefully it will have that flow-on effect. Residents of Bankstown and surrounding southwest and western Sydney suburbs have seen endless gang violence this year as an internal gang dispute escalated to shootings in public places. But the Brothers 4 Life group has been relatively quiet since a huge police crackdown led to several gang members being put behind bars in November. Among those in jail is Mohammed Hamzy, believed to be the de facto gang leader. He was charged with murdering fellow gang member Yehyah Amood last year at Greenacre. Police Minister Mike Gallacher said mostly young men were charged and it should sound a warning to others considering joining gangs. "Despite the fact that these organisations are still capable of attracting young people who think that somehow, these gangs are untouchable, they are touchable," Mr Gallacher told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday. The likelihood is that some of these members might well be spending their Christmas behind bars. At a Yagoona property police seized cocaine, crystal methylamphetamine, cash and steroids. At a Villawood property officers netted a shotgun, an ammunition press, MDMA tablets, crystal meth and tear-gas canisters. Of the nine men arrested, three have been refused bail. All will appear in various courts in the new year except for a 24-year-old due in Burwood court on Thursday.