Is it just coincidence, or is the "knock-knock" shooting death of the Phillip man overnight the first Canberra underworld blow to be landed in the wake of Operation Ironside on Monday?
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The late night doorway murder comes after federal police teamed up with state law enforcement agencies around the country, executing early morning warrants and swooping on key players in national illicit drug importation and distribution.
Although the reins to these multi-jurisdictional operations were being held back at the AFP headquarters in the Edmund Barton Building, until now Canberra's criminal gangs had largely escaped scot-free.
A few local search warrants were executed but yielded no announceables. And south of the border, former Nomads office-bearer Michael Clark was scooped up by NSW police in an Ironside-connected arrest for alleged gun-running and breach of bail.
Police allege Clark was openly using the encrypted AN0M app on a stripped-out Pixel phone - Operation Ironside's planted product - unaware the cops had the keys to the back-end of the app and were following every word.
Investigators know the Phillip victim's identity, probably have the ballistics and now would be tapping the Ironside vault to see what it may yield.
"We're following a number of lines of inquiry so I'm not going to speculate," Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman said.
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