Four Comanchero bikies arrested as part of Operation Ironside investigations
Four alleged Comanchero bikies planned to lure a fellow member to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre and bash him, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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Four alleged Comanchero bikies were involved in a “conspiracy within a conspiracy” to lure a fellow member to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, where he would be severely bashed, a court has heard.
Goran Mazibrada, 43, of St Clair, and Domenic Fernando Franze, 23, of Queenstown, applied for bail during a hearing in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.
Their co-accused – a Magill man, 35, and a Salisbury North man, 33, whose identities are suppressed as they are in custody on other charges – did not apply for bail.
The quartet is charged with one count each of conspiracy to cause serious harm.
A prosecutor told the court Mr Mazibrada’s alleged role had been to lure the intended victim – a fellow Comanchero bikie gang member – to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre at North Adelaide and ensure he was not armed.
The court heard the victim was told he and the other men were going to bash a third party.
However, when he arrived he was to be assaulted.
The prosecutor said Mr Mazibrada said he had to do “damage control” to ensure the victim did not come armed to the Aquatic Centre, describing the plot as a “conspiracy within a conspiracy”.
“(Mr Mazibrada) said he didn’t want it to turn into a sword fight,” the prosecutor told the court.
Magistrate Simon Smart ordered a home-detention bail report and Mr Mazibrada was remanded in custody to appear again next week.
Jennifer Stefanac, for Mr Franze, asked Mr Smart to order a home-detention bail report for her client, who also will appear next week.
Police said the arrests – conducted by STAR Group officers and Serious and Organised Crime detectives – were made after an ongoing investigation into the AN0M encrypted messaging app revealed the men’s plans.
“Messaging that has been located during this review is intended to form part of the evidence to support the charges against these four men,” police said in a statement.
Drug and Organised Crime Taskforce officer-in-charge detective Chief Inspector Darren Fielke said more arrests would follow.
“(Friday’s) arrests are indicative of the continuing pressure that will be applied to outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal groups by the Ironside Taskforce,” Chief Inspector Fielke said.
About 40 people were arrested in South Australia during Operation Ironside resolution day on June 7 on charges from conspiracy to murder to drug trafficking and money laundering.
Chief Inspector Fielke said the planned attack shows disloyalty within bikie gangs.
“The offending alleged against the four men arrested today was to be committed against one of their own,” Chief Inspector Fielke said.
“This is another example of the disloyalty that exists within the supposed outlaw motorcycle gang brotherhood.”
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