It's believed police have made arrests in relation to the shooting of notorious crime figure Pasquale Barbaro, who was gunned down on an Earlwood street earlier this month.

Witnesses say heavily-armed police stormed an area around the Ibis Hotel in Sydney Olympic Park at about midday on Tuesday and arrested two men.

Footage from Channel Seven appears to show two men handcuffed against the wall and face down on the footpath with their pockets emptied and shoes removed.

It's understood one of the men has connections to several slain gangland members.

An up-market apartment block on nearby Australia Avenue has also been raided and a third man possibly arrested.

Police have removed several bags of evidence from the apartment and have seized luxury cars.

A police spokesman said: "A police operation is currently underway involving multiple search warrants across Sydney. As the operation is ongoing no further information is available".

Brian Clark, who works in the area, said he saw police flood an area between on Showground Road between Herb Elliot Drive and Dawn Fraser Driver.

He saw two people, who he thought were a male and female, taken into custody outside the Ibis hotel.

Both individuals were surrounded by dozens of uniformed and non-uniformed police. Mr Clark said he believed the Australian Federal Police and riot police were involved.

"Whatever was going on, the police had it really locked down. They were calm and in control," he said. "They took the two people away without any fuss."

More to come