Anti-bikies strike team to be formed
Across the country the crackdown against outlaw motorcycle gangs is gaining pace.
A specialist anti-gang squad has been launched in Victoria today, while Queensland authorities are now targeting industries with strong bikie affiliations.
The new strike teams is part of the $64 million national anti-gangs taskforce.
From Cairns to Coolangatta, and west to Mount Isa, Queensland polcie conducted co-ordinated raids againt tow-truck operators suspected of having links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
At Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast, a former Fink, now an alleged associate was stopped and searched.
Police also photographed his distinctive tattoos, while cars in the yard were checked, paperwork seized forensic accountants are now officers are following the money trail.
They allege some companies have been unlawfully towing cars, and then forcing the owners to pay up to get their vehicles back. Threats have also been made to legitimate tow truck owners.
In Melbourne, detectives from the anti-bikie Echo taskforce nailed a court order to the walls of the Hells Angels clubhouse at Thomastown in the city's north.
It gives the gang a month to challenge the application, or police will return and tear down their fortifications.
Under new anti-fortification powers, police want to remove a front steel gate, the surrounding two-metre high fence, steel locked doors, and infrared security cameras.
Police stand guard outside a Hells Angels fortified club house with a sign saying " NO TRESSPASSING VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN" in Melbourne, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013. Photo: AAP
And Western Australia's Attorney-General was showing off dozens of seized weapons, as it was announced that from Saturday police will be able to declare bikie gangs criminal organisations.
"There are severe penalties that the act sets out between two years imprisonment, or in some aggravated circumstances a member that may be part of a declared organisation could receive up to twenty years jail," WA's assistant police commissioner Chris Dawson said.
Police are keeping secret when their first application will be made.
