A HAND grenade has been found in a car at a police holding yard following a major Wodonga drug raid.
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Mahmoud El-Zayat, 43, and Claudette Tannous, 22, were arrested in room six of the Sanctuary Park Motel on High Street on Friday.
A homemade gun, ice with a street value of $120,000, cocaine, marijuana, $2000 cash and deal bags were seized in the room and from a hire car parked outside.
The Wodonga Magistrates’ Court has been told the Melbourne couple had blamed each other for ownership of the drugs.
They had allegedly spoken of finding those who had given information to police to “have it sorted", which officers took as a threat.
Police discovered a photo of the grenade after searching through the couple’s joint Facebook account.
The bomb squad attended the Preston police holding yard on Monday and found the device in the back seat of El-Zayat’s Mercedes, which had been seized in May.
Enquiries after the Wodonga raid showed El-Zayat allegedly had a South Australian licence under the name Alexander Mirko.
Police allege the licence had been obtained using a false German passport and false Australian citizenship documents.
Police said they had been making daily trips in hire cars between Melbourne and Wodonga since March.
While the cars were intercepted several times, the roof spaces – where the guns and drugs were later found – were not searched.
Surveillance showed a large number of people attending the motel as part of alleged large scale drug-dealing.
El-Zayat has no known means of employment, but the duo allegedly have a $1000-a-week drug and alcohol habit.
The court heard he is on a disability support pension.
The Melbourne man has eight children and does not pay any child support or have contact with his ex-wife, the court heard.
Yet expensive items, including watches and jewellery, were found in the motel raid.
Magistrate John O’Callaghan said the seized handgun – which the court heard appeared capable of firing a .22 round – was particularly concerning.
“On the police case, this is a serious case of drug trafficking involving a large number of transactions,” he said.
The magistrate was also concerned that the couple had told police they would find out where the information had come from and sort it out.
El-Zayat blew a kiss to his family and said “I love you” after being denied bail. Both will return to court August 9.
