Bikies claim anti-consorting laws used to disrupt criminal syndicates make ’normal’ life too hard
THE state’s anti-consorting laws designed to disrupt criminal syndicates in NSW are being used so effectively by Strike Force Raptor that bikies are now crying foul, saying the legislation is making them lonely.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Brazen bikies taunt Strike Force Raptor with Instagram picture
- One of Sydney’s biggest alleged crime syndicates dismantled
THE state’s anti-consorting laws designed to disrupt criminal syndicates in NSW are being used so effectively by Strike Force Raptor that bikies are now crying foul, saying the legislation is making them lonely.
Convicted killer and Nomads life member Moudi Tajjour said the laws made anyone “deemed a gangster in eyes the government” a target for “police harassment”, adding the restrictions made it near impossible for him to have any friendships, not just those with his bikie mates.
Taking to Instagram, Tajjour said he was forced to tell his former school friends he wouldn’t be able to catch up with them for a drink because he feared they could fall victim to the state’s strict anti-consorting laws even though they do not have a criminal record.
The former Nomads vice president said he had been left with no option but to isolate himself from the group so they wouldn’t face the possibility of three years jail for consorting.
“I basically can’t hang with my mates cause (sic) there (sic) all convicts and gangsters and I can’t hang with normal guys either cause (sic) then they face the possibilities off being charged,” he wrote.
MORE NEWS:
TAJJOUR CALLS FOR PEACE ON SYDNEY’S STREETS
BIKIE BOSS BURIES MUM IN A $45,000 GOLD CASKET
REBELS MC SHARE RULES CIVILLIANS MUST FOLLOW
While there is truth to the claim, Tajjour failed to mention the law itself is a little more nuanced and would require someone to consort with at least two convicted offenders, plus police would have to issue an official warning to someone before they could be charged.
Regardless of the finer details, the cousin of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim said the government’s “obsession” with bikies had given him no chance at living a “normal” and “stable” life because of his past criminal convictions.
“I pass people eating and chatting with each other as mates do and wonder what is different to them … we go to jail if we share a meal together,” he wrote.
“It’s effecting (sic) my day to day thinking pattern and becoming impossible to live freely without police harassment.”
The 34-year-old said the rules have made it impossible for him to have a relationship with friends he has had for 20 years.
“Each time I want to see my mates I need to travel all the way to Canberra,” he wrote, referring to the absence of anti-consorting laws in the national capital.
“This is a joke how the government can tell us who we can hang with.”
Just two weeks earlier, Tajjour and dozens of Nomad bikie gang members taunted Strike Force Raptor when they posed for a photograph wearing full colours in Canberra.
“There is no way they would get away with taking a photo like that or riding around in Sydney,’’ a senior NSW cop told The Daily Telegraph at the time.
“Strike Force Raptor would be all over them.”
Despite his latest post admitting to using Canberra as a meeting ground for bikies, Tajjour previously claimed his picture was not a taunt.
Canberra has become a safe haven for bikies since tough anti-consorting laws were introduced in NSW in 2013 after a spate of violent crime by gangs.
From having just one gang in 2014 the capital now has four — and regular visits from out-of-town crews.
It’s believed that Sydney bikies go as far as loading their motorcycles onto trucks to ship to the Australian Capital Territory so they can ride together during visits.
The rise in gangs and violent acts led top ACT cop Justine Saunders to say she was kept up at night by fears an innocent person would one day be a victim of bikie violence.
“You have the ACT Chief Police Officer … agreeing she fears innocent victims from bikie violence, and also that organised crime groups like OMCGs are coming,” ACT opposition legal spokesman Jeremy Hanson said.
“We need to have consorting laws here to prevent the growth of bikies before someone is killed,’’ he said.
His bid to introduce anti-consorting laws was defeated by the ALP-controlled government.
A spokesman said the ACT government had strengthened police powers to target criminal gangs.
But it did not support anti-consorting laws because they could have a “disproportionate impact” on vulnerable members of our society”.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION
► CHAPTER ONE: Inside the squad that beat Sydney’s gangs
► CHAPTER TWO: The real-life police fight club
► CHAPTER THREE: The day bikies went too far
► CHAPTER FOUR: Bikie gangs: Warlords of the underworld
Originally published as Bikies claim anti-consorting laws used to disrupt criminal syndicates make ’normal’ life too hard
Plans to boost capacity after sellout Everest
After over 49,000 people flocked to Royal Randwick for The Everest, Racing NSW and Australian Turf Club are planning to increase crowd capacity in 2025.
Named: Man accused of parking meter mayhem
Paying for a car space is never fun but one man took things too far after allegedly smashing a number of parking meters in a northern NSW tourist town, causing more than $15,000 damage.