Young blood: The Youth Gangs of Adelaide

A decade after Adelaide’s notorious bikie wars, authorities have a new battle on their hands, youth crime gangs. So what do we know about the groups terrorising our streets?

This week, The Daily Telegraph launches a sequel to its multi-award winning documentary The War. The War: Young Blood is a gritty documentary series confronting the bloodletting and knife crime that has reupted between Sydney’s postcode gangs.

The series examines 11 teenage deaths and the constant violence arising from senseless turf conflicts. But it’s not just Sydney that has been grapping with an explosion of violence driven by so-called postcode gangs.

We take a look at the current state of play in South Australia.

Just over a decade ago, South Australian authorities were forced to launch an assault against warring bikie gangs who were locked in a violent and bloody struggle for money, territory and power.

In recent years, authorities have been forced to come to terms with a new threat to the civil order; youth crime gangs.

As The Advertiser’s Nigel Hunt reported, the new war revolves around tensions between two rival gangs, largely made up of Sudanese youths and young adults, known as 051 and KBS.

As Hunt reported, in July, 2021, in the wake of an outburst of violence, police quietly set up a new task force called Operation Meld, to not only crackdown on the spate of violence, but to combat the gangs’ other criminal activities - mainly frauds, deception, minor robberies and some drug trafficking.

There’s been a political response to the violence, too.

The Malinauskas Government says it will consider changes to SA's organised crime laws to help deal with a rise in violence allegedly linked to Adelaide’s youth crime gangs.

In April, 2022, Premier Peter Malinauskas told The Advertiser his government was considering updating SA’s organised crime laws so that youth crime gangs could be handled in the same way as bikie gangs.

“Wherever you see risk-taking behaviour, whether it be risk-taking on our roads or … people engaging in violence, that does present a potential risk to others,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“That’s why it’s so concerning and why we want to do anything we can to prevent it,” he said.

“There were strong legislative changes that were required to help control outlaw motorcycle gangs, some of it was controversial.

“If there’s legislation that is going to be required in the future that might make some changes to aid the effort of police, we are certainly open to that.”

In 2015, the then-Labor government introduced some of the toughest anti-bikie laws in the country, banning club members from attending specific premises and prohibiting two or more members of a declared gang from meeting in public.

The laws also prohibit people from entering licensed venues wearing the colours, names or symbols of declared criminal organisations.

So what do we know about the youth crime gangs whose members have allegedly been terrorising innocent members of the community and spiling blood in our streets?

THE WAR: YOUNG BLOOD: INSIDE SYDNEY’S POSTCODE GANG MURDERS

051

The largest of the groups – 051 – has a core membership of between 20 and 30 youths but numbers fluctuate.

Members are of south Sudanese heritage who, like rival gang Killa Block Squad, predominantly live in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

“There is a group of probably over 20 who are the primary ones we are looking at as regularly featuring,’’ Assistant Commissioner Scott Duval said in February.

“There have been a number of apprehensions, so the group size will vary depending on the level of intervention.

“They are predominantly children. It is a group of children who come together … mostly to commit crime.”

In July, 2021, police set up a special operation to deal with escalating violence linked to Adelaide street gangs. Artwork: News Corp. Australia.

KBS

Killa Block Squad, known as KBS, spans across multiple suburbs, similar to 051.

Munno Para, Andrews Farm, Craigmore, Kilburn, Athol Park and around the Port Adelaide area are the major hot spots for gang activity.

KBS, a smaller group than 051 with an unknown membership number, comprises of youths of Sudanese, Liberian and Somalian heritage.

They mainly live in the northern suburbs.

BDK

Street gang BDK – Blood Drill Killers – is one of Melbourne’s most violent youth gangs but has alleged links to Adelaide.

The gang has risen to prominence in Melbourne since 2018 after a series of violent brawls. Its members are predominantly teenage Sudanese youths but the gang includes some Australians.

Its activities have been mainly confined to Melbourne’s western suburbs with several major brawls at shopping centres – one involving more than 30 rival gang members armed with knives and baseball bats.

The gang is known to be closely linked to several senior 051 gang members through loose nationality and online connections.

The BDK gang is a splinter group from Melbourne’s notorious Apex and Menace to Society youth gangs that have been involved in multiple violent clashes. The Apex youth gang originated in Dandenong in early 2016 with its members primarily from a Sudanese refugee background.

Artwork News Corp

FINESSE

A smaller group which police say is also active in SA.

‘BLACK, YOUNG AND RUTHLESS’

A gang of indigenous teens ranging in ages from 12 to 15, many of them either in state care or under guardianship orders.

The gang, which calls itself Black, Young and Ruthless, can fluctuate in size up from just a handful of members to as many as 15.

As The Advertiser reported exclusively in September, 2022, the gang has been responsible for a year-long spate of luxury car thefts and high-speed police chases that have traumatised victims and endangered the lives of other road users.

As The Advertiser reported, the gang has been targeting high-end vehicles, including BMWs, Mercedes, Bentleys and a Lamborghini.

Targeting victims from wealthy suburbs, the gang often follows the drivers of luxury cars home to find out where they live.

They often then send the smallest child into houses via a doggy door or open window to stealing the car’s transponder before making off with the vehicle.

The gang then tries to “bait” police into dangerous, high-speed chases before uploading the videos to their Instagram accounts.

As the paper reported, the gang is also responsible for hundreds of other crimes including property damage, shop theft, petrol theft, robbery carrying offensive weapons and serious criminal trespass.

Investigations into the gang are being conducted by police attached to Operation Mandrake, which was set up in 2003 to investigate a group of hardcore Aboriginal offenders known as the Gang of 49.