Supreme Court hears internal bikie politics and drug debts behind conspiracies to murder and bash

Internal bikie politics and drug debts were behind an alleged plan to shoot one man and bash another, a court has heard.

Internal politics within the Comancheros motorcycle gang paired with drug debts to senior members within the gang were behind a plan to murder a rival dealer and bash one of their own members, a court has heard.

On Tuesday, an alleged member of the bikie gang applied for bail in the Supreme Court.

The man, who cannot be identified to protect the integrity of upcoming trials, was arrested in June last year as part of Operation Ironside.

He was initially charged with conspiracy to murder over a plot to kill a man who was alleged to be a rival drug dealer going up against the Comancheros.

In December last year he was also charged with conspiracy to cause serious harm to a fellow member of the gang and being part of a syndicate which allegedly imported kilograms of methamphetamine from interstate.

Marie Shaw QC, for the man, told Justice Laura Stein that her client suffered from sleep apnoea and gout and had lost 30kg behind bars.

She asked for him to be released on strict home detention bail so he could get treatment for his sleep apnoea.

A prosecutor told the court that messages intercepted from the encrypted AN0M app showed the man had been responsible for sourcing the firearm to be used in the shooting.

Messages read to court showed one of the men asking the others to listen to an ambulance scanner for any word of a shooting that night.

He was also part of a chat group within the app dedicated to organising the bashing of a man at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre.

The court heard the man had offered to bring pipes from his work to be used in the bashing.

“He told the others the pipe would be hollow, but strong so it wouldn’t bend,” the prosecutor said.

The court heard the bashing was to make an “example” of the man as well as being revenge for drug debts owed to a senior member of the gang.

The man and his co-accused were called in to “cave” the victim over internal ructions within the gang.

Mrs Shaw said neither the alleged target of the shooting or the bashing was co-operating with police.

“The fact that the victim was completely naive does not have any bearing on the prosecution,” the prosecutor replied.

The court heard the man was caught with a large quantity of methamphetamine in his car when he was arrested.

Justice Stein adjourned the application for three weeks to allow for the Corrections Department to respond to questions about the treatment of the man in custody.

He will return to court next week.