Police target bikie gangs infiltrating booming illicit tobacco trade worth billions
New detail has emerged of how bikies are working with kingpin Kazem Hamad, as an anti-bikie cop told gangs to “go and do their dress ups elsewhere”.
Bikies are muscling in on Australia’s booming illicit smokes trade, as police attempt to dismantle their links with the offshore kingpins sending Manchester and Double Happiness cigarettes down under.
The Australian Federal Police have made smashing the smokes trade a “priority” under Taskforce Morpheus, which now also includes police from New Zealand.
The illicit cigarettes market is costing Australia $4 billion a year – almost twice the value of the national cocaine market.
“Dismantling these syndicates is a priority, given the increased risk and harm posed to the broader community by these new, profit-driven players in the organised crime landscape,” the AFP said in response to questions about Taskforce Morpheus.
Deported convicted criminal Kazem Hamad, a former Mongols bikie who has had associations with members of the Comanchero, is a key figure in the tobacco trade.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has referred to Hamad as her “Number One priority,” adding she has “tasked my most experienced criminal hunters to target him”.
The bikies’ move into the cigarette trade comes as Victoria Police’s top anti-bikie cop has told the gangs to “go and do their dress ups elsewhere”.
Victoria is about to fall in line with other states in banning the nation’s most powerful outlaw clubs from wearing club colours in public, leaving the ACT and the NT as the only outliers.
“The idea of police taking them (their colours) or seizing them is unpalatable to them. So if they don’t want their colours taken off them, they won’t be wearing them in public,”
Detective Inspector Michael Daly, who heads Victoria Police’s anti-bikie Echo Taskforce, said.
“In my personal opinion, they can go and play dress ups elsewhere.”
Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) executive director Dr Katie Willis said “outlaw motorcycle gangs” were “high threat criminal networks”.
“We continue to monitor associations and alliances between OMCGs and emerging serious and organised crime threats,” she said.
“There is OMCG involvement in every illicit commodity market both via trafficking and sales, and also as an enforcement capability for other networks.
“A proportion of any criminally derived profit can reasonably be expected to be reinvested into further criminal ventures and capability.”
The AFP said in a statement that its anti-bikie Taskforce Morpheus, which also includes Australian Border Force, ACIC, Austrac, Australian Taxation Office and Services Australia staff, remains active.
“The rise of Australia’s illicit tobacco market has certainly introduced new players into the Australian organised crime environment,” the AFP said.
“The illicit tobacco trade is closely linked with a range of other serious and violent crimes in some parts of Australia, including arson, extortion, money laundering, and firearms offences, as criminal groups compete for control and profits.”
Austrac, the nation’s financial watchdog, has been actively monitoring bikie gang members and their associates to track illicit cash.
“We have dedicated financial intelligence analysts that help law enforcement follow the money, providing insights that disrupt outlaw motorcycle gangs and other organised crime groups,” chief executive Brendan Thomas said.
New laws, known as “tranche 2”, that require accountants and real estate agents to report suspicious transactions were also making it harder for bikies to move money.
“The new laws will help bring professional service providers into the AML/CTF regime, closing gaps that criminals try to exploit,” Mr Thomas added.
Meanwhile, Hells Angels, Comanchero, Bandidos, Mongols, Rebels, Finks and their “feeder” clubs will be the first organisations prohibited from displaying their names and logos in Victoria’s crackdown.
However, a further seven clubs are also in the sights of detectives who are advocating for a ban on members wearing colours.
Bikie clubs have already been sent letters informing them they will be prescribed under the Criminal Organisations Control Act.
Once listed it will be a criminal offence to display insignias in public anywhere in Victoria.
Legal challenges are expected as bikie clubs fight for the right to continue their national runs which they use as shows of force to recruit new members.
The tough action from Victoria Police closed a loophole that allowed the nation’s 4600-plus patched bikies crossing the Victorian border in their club colours.
Insp Daly said police would not hesitate confiscating the paraphernalia.
“The colours that the bikies wear are sacred to them,” Insp Daly said.
“It’s used as a tool to enforce compliance. It’s a badge of honour to them …”
But in a trend conflicting with the so-called “brotherhood” of motorcycle gangs, Insp Daly said some senior bikies were pretending to have gone straight while still calling the shots.
“We’re seeing some of the office bearers are claiming to be out of the clubs to avoid police attention,” he said.
Victoria, once dubbed “Switzerland” because it was seen as a safe haven for bikies, is the last state to place bans on colours.
In a pre-emptive move, the Hells Angels have removed the infamous “death head” logo from its Victorian chapters’ clubhouses.
Some clubs jumped ahead of the new Victorian laws, having their final “national runs” before the ban was enforced.
But the presence of bikie gangs remains strong across Australia.
The Bandidos, considered one of the “Big 6” clubs, have opened a new “North Melbourne” chapter.
It is unclear whether they will attempt to set up a clubhouse.
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Originally published as Police target bikie gangs infiltrating booming illicit tobacco trade worth billions
