Metropolitan organised crime officers are working with local police to ensure a high-profile spat between rival bikie gangs does not spill onto the streets of Mandurah.
Over recent months, friction between the Comancheros and the Rebels has led to shootings, bashings and fire-bombings in Perth’s southern suburbs such as Rockingham and Kwinana.
This has prompted a police crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) to avoid harm being caused to members of the public.
The tentacles reach far and wide.
- Mandurah Detective Senior Sergeant Trevor Troy
Serious and Organised Crime Unit Detective Inspector Mark Twamley said weapon and drug search warrants had been executed in the Peel region.
“Due to the tensions in the Rockingham-Mandurah area, we have done a lot of suppression activity, which includes the execution of a number of search warrants,” he said.
“They are executed on known OMCG addressees and that’s to try and remove firearms from their possession.
“We are also doing overt patrolling around members and their clubhouses.”
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A number of gang-related arrests have been made in the Mandurah area over recent months.
Halls Head resident Grantito Eduard Chacone, who police allege to be a senior member of Mongrel Mob gang, appeared in the Mandurah Magistrates Court last month via video link from Hakea Prison.
The 36-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing nearly $70,000 of unlawfully obtained cash and a trafficable quantity of methylamphetamine (380 grams) with intent to sell or supply.
He is due to appear on November 16, in the Perth District Court for sentencing.
Gang Crime Squad alleged they found knuckle dusters, steroids,195.4 grams of methamphetamine and $35,980 cash in a Lakelands home last month, during a search warrant.
We are all working together to disrupt illegal activities of these criminal organisations.
- Detective Inspector Mark Twamley
As a result, Ian Te Wierik, 22, will be sentenced in the District Court on November 23, after pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine with intent to sell or supply and possessing stolen or unlawfully obtained property.
A 25-year-old Lakelands man was also charged with three drug offences and is due to appear in the Mandurah Magistrates Court on October 26.
Mandurah man Shaun Henry Collard, who police allege to be a Coffin Cheaters member, was fined $1000 in the same court last week, after Gang Crime Squad found a police officer hat and cannabis grinder in a storage unit.
Detective Inspector Twamley said the nearly 600 gang members in the state were “fairly fluid” in nature, operating across the wider metropolitan region and into country areas.
It’s a bit like a moving feast and remember, they don’t talk to us either - so it’s not like we can go get a membership list.
- Detective Inspector Mark Twamley
“It’s a bit like a moving feast and remember, they don’t talk to us either - so it’s not like we can go get a membership list,” he said.
Detective Inspector Twamley said Mandurah detectives worked with special units including the Gang Crime Squad.
“We are all working together to disrupt illegal activities of these criminal organisations,” he said.
“Obviously, the incidents of violence that we’ve seen recently, specifically the shootings in Calista and Rockingham, are concerning.
“Given that there were two incidents of violence, we have concentrated a fair bit of policing effort down that way in the last few months.
They conduct illegal activities within our community and obviously all police officers work hard to disrupt and suppress their criminal behaviour - and Mandurah is not immune to that.
- Detective Inspector Mark Twamley
“We want to reassure the community that criminal acts are contained to rival gang members, but we are always mindful for the potential of innocent members of the public being inadvertently harmed.
“They operate within our community, they conduct illegal activities within our community and obviously all police officers work hard to disrupt and suppress their criminal behaviour – and Mandurah is not immune to that.”
Mandurah Detective Senior Sergeant Trevor Troy said as it currently stands, gang crime in Mandurah was not impacting the general public, but the “tentacles reach far and wide”.
“There are confrontations within groups which do influence the region, even if they are not taking place here,” he said.
“The tentacles reach far and wide.
“In recent times, we had an assault reported, what we call a ‘run-through’.
“It’s where a person hasn’t paid a debt and they get a reminder – a threat, an assault, there might be a bashing.
“We are seeing that in the community more.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Troy said Rebels, Mongrel Mob and Coffin Cheaters members were known to reside in the district of Mandurah.
“Members live and work among the rest of the community,” he said.
“They will travel up to the clubhouse when they need to but the fact is – they live in the community.
“We will continue to work with Gang Crime Squad to disrupt their criminal behaviour.”
