Detectives brace for organised-crime groups moving to fill power vacuum left in wake of Ironside arrests
A year ago, widespread Operation Ironside raids dismantled the Comanchero and other SA crime syndicates. Now the criminals left behind are battling to take over.
Police & Courts
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A global crime sting that decimated the state chapter of the Comanchero motorcycle gang has left a power vacuum in South Australia’s underworld with new players looking to take advantage, senior police say.
Dozens of SA detectives are still focused on analysing millions of encrypted messages seized as part of Operation Ironside, which included a large series of raids a year ago.
Another team of detectives is monitoring changes in underworld ranks to identify and tackle those stepping up to the fill the void.
South Australia Police alone have arrested 96 people over the 12 months since the encrypted AN0M platform was shut down by international law enforcement agencies.
Australian Federal Police also arrested more than a dozen people linked to SA crimes.
The arrests stemmed from messages sent over the AN0M app, which alleged members of the underworld believed was encrypted but was in fact being monitored by police.
The messages led police in South Australia to charge people with offences including conspiracy to murder, unsolved firebombings, shootings and the trafficking of large amounts of drugs.
The officer in charge of the drug and organised crime task force, Detective Chief Inspector Darren Fielke, said the operation had disrupted criminal activity but other groups were already looking to fill the gap.
“We impacted supply significantly, we didn’t impact demand in the same way,” he said.
“There is a vacuum that other groups, which weren’t affected by Ironside, might see as a void and an opportunity.
“We haven’t dropped the ball in terms of looking at those groups seeking to reintroduce supply to meet that demand.”
Chief Inspector Fielke said the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang had been hit particularly hard by the operation.
“The Comanchero stand out as a serious organised crime group which we hit at the heart of,” he said.
“There have been 21 members or associates of the Comanchero who have been arrested and at least half are still in custody.
“The 10 or 11 who remain in custody are some of the higher office bearers within the gang. We have stripped out the decision makers of that club.”
As many as five other alleged syndicates were dismantled by the operation, with police surprised by the extent of some of their operations.
“There were no real surprises with the Comanchero – but there were other groups that we didn’t realise were as high up the organised crime chain as they were,” Chief Inspector Fielke said.
Several hundred of the AN0M-enabled phones were in circulation in South Australia.
Head of the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, Detective Superintendent Billy Thompson, said anyone who so much as picked up one of the phones should be nervous.
“It’s not the people who have already been arrested who should be worried, anybody who used one of these devices should be very worried because we are going to come and visit them at some point,” he said.
While more arrests are likely, the work of many of the Ironside detectives have turned to ensuring the tens of thousands of messages needed to prove the charges are in a format usable at trial.
Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton QC fast-tracked one set of the charges in a nation-leading prosecution to test the validity of the warrants used to seize the messages.
The trial is listed before the Supreme Court later this year and involves charges relating to military-grade firearms and drug trafficking.
The result of that hearing, regardless of whether the messages are held to be admissible, is expected to be appealed to the High Court.
While the fate of multiple Ironside charges hangs on the test case, lawyers for other accused have been mounting their own legal challenges.
Subpoenas have been issued to try to get copies of the AN0M source code to test its encryption algorithms.
On Friday, multiple Ironside defendants appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court including the youngest accused, Apostle Broikos.
Mr Broikos is charged with manufacturing a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug at Morphett Vale and taking part in the trafficking of 10kg of methamphetamine at Yamba.
His lawyer, Craig Caldicott, was among many legal representatives who indicated they would file applications to argue their clients had no case to answer.
A separate lawsuit launched by two Ironside defendants led to the Supreme Court refusing to force accused to list their assets for possible seizure.
But despite the legal win, the DPP campaign of criminal asset restraint has continued unabated.
As recently as last week the Supreme Court was freezing homes belonging to Ironside defendants with the properties joining the millions in assets already frozen.
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