Those arrested were aged 24 or younger, and three of the four homes were targets of counter-terrorism raids in September last year. Police search a house in Wentworthville. Credit:Peter Rae Police said those arrested had been taken to various police stations in Sydney and were being questioned over the execution of police accountant Curtis Cheng, 58, who was shot outside the police building on Friday afternoon. At Merrylands, eggs were thrown at reporters from a house on an adjacent street. The eggs came over the top of a house on Lockwood Street before landing on the road and grass where cameras were set up. Most missed their target, although a photographer and a cameraman were hit with a bit of yolk.

One journalist, in the middle of a live cross, narrowly missed being hit. Police raids: The scene outside a house at Lane Street, Wentworthville. Credit:Peter Rae Police officers went looking for the egg throwers and spotted a couple of men on the top level of a home on an adjacent street but they ducked after seeing officers approaching. About 200 police officers were involved in Wednesday morning's raids at Bursill Street in Guildford, Lane Street in Wentworthville, Lockwood Street in Merrylands and Booth Street in Marsfield.

Those arrested were a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man from Wentworthville; a 22-year-old man and a 24-year-old man from Merrylands; and 22-year-old Mustafa Dirani from Marsfield. The 24 year-old man arrested at Merrylands was not detained as part of the terrorism operation but on an outstanding warrant for fraud matters. Police raid a house in Merrylands. Credit:Nick Moir The arrests were made as part of an investigation by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team and the Homicide Squad.

Police blocked off Lane Street in Wentworthville after it raided the home there. Up to 20 police officers, including riot police, three dog-squad cars and federal forensic investigators surrounded the property in Sydney's west for more than three hours. Police were seen carrying out evidence bags as concerned neighbours watched on. "We are used to it here," said one neighbour whose balcony overlooks the Lane Street apartment police raided. "This is nothing - you should have seen the last one." Resident Veeshal Bolaky woke to the sound of helicopters buzzing above their roof, then turned on his TV to see police piling into their neighbourhood.

"Of course it makes us concerned, we used to be able to leave our windows open - not any more," said Mr Bolaky. Police raiding properties in western Sydney on Wednesday morning. Credit:Channel NIne On Bursill Street, Guildford, forensic and police officers raided the home of Omarjan Azari. Earlier this year Mr Azari was charged over a terrorist plot in which police alleged there was a plan to execute someone publicly in Sydney. Just before 9am a young man in a blue-hooded jacket was seen leaving the property. Neighbour Mario said the last raid at the property was "more full on" than that on Wednesday morning. "They've been raided before as you know ... [but] last time it was a bit more full on," he said.

Mario has lived on Bursill Street for about five years, but has never spoken to the Azari family. "You just see the old man doing the lawns maybe. But never [a] hello, never nothing," he said, adding: "As soon as they moved in, it was like a week later they got raided." Mr Cheng, who had worked for NSW Police for 17 years, was leaving work about 4.30pm on Friday when Farhad Jabar, 15, shot him in the back of the head. A special constable then shot and killed the boy, a year 10 student from the nearby Arthur Phillip High School. The Australian Federal Police said Wednesday morning's raids were not connected to the arrest on Tuesday morning of a student outside the school.

In that incident, a 17-year-old boy was arrested over alleged posts he made on his Facebook account following Friday's shooting. The teenager was charged overnight with two counts of resisting arrest, using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, assaulting police and intimidating police.