Bikie police unit Strike Force Raptor gets boost after Auburn shooting

Bikie-busting police unit Strike Force Raptor will be bolstered to more than 100 cops to crack down on warring crime families.

Bikie-busting police unit Strike Force Raptor will be bolstered to more than 100 cops and unleashed on warring crime families in Sydney’s southwest as murders and public shootings escalate.

The final straw came this week when a bullet just missed a nurse on duty at ­Auburn Hospital during a drive-by shooting at a nearby townhouse.

Strike Force Raptor arresting a man in Ryde in September as part of a cocaine supply investigation. Picture: NSW Police

It prompted Police Minister David Elliott and Police Commissioner Mick Fuller to fast-track plans for a new Super Raptor.

“These groups are urban terrorists and have to be treated like that,” Mr Elliott said. “Raptor has my full support to respond in the way that the community expect.”

The new squad, which was to be announced in July, will now begin on Monday and Strike Force Raptor will be elevated to a stand-alone squad with a new commander — Superintendent Jason Weinstein.

The 26-year police veteran sent a strong warning to criminals that their “daily behaviour” will be disrupted until “they understand organised crime won’t be tolerated”.

“If you expect that you are going to engage in organised crime, we have a whole range of sophisticated techniques coming after you,” he said on Friday.

“And we will come after you and take all of your assets.

“For those that want to facilitate organised crime, and that included their associates, or to think that it’s okay and cool to be associated with organised crime, then you can expect that your daily life will now be disrupted.”

It will immediately be given 10 extra officers, with 20 more joining in July, bringing its total strength to 115.

Comm Fuller said that while Strike Force Raptor won’t be dismantled and will focus on “longer term investigations”, Super Raptor will ensure they can “punish criminals” daily – from traffic offences to homicides.

“We need that daily harassment of criminals and if I’m not getting complaints from the lawyers and criminals, then we are not doing our job,” he said.

“We have shootings, and that’s unacceptable. And they will say, well it’s just a criminal shooting the criminals. Which is okay unless you live next door to them.

“When you have a nurse who could’ve been seriously injured or worse, that obviously in terms of the raptor component we have brought forward.”

Comm Fuller said Raptor has arrested 6290 people, proceeded with 15,800 charges and seized more than 2000 firearms and $15 million in cash since its inception in 2009.

Until now, Strike Force Raptor came under the command of the Criminal Groups Squad but now will have more freedom to operate under its own banner — carrying out investigations and intelligence gathering as well as long-term operations.

Three major gangland conflicts currently being fought on Sydney streets have resulted in at least five murders and three attempted murders.

One of those killed was an innocent man, 29-year-old Moustafa Nameen, executed in a carpark after a boxing match in Sydney’s south because it was wrongly thought he was part of the Hamzy crime family.

There have also been murders linked to the Coman­chero-Bandido bikie feud and the warring street gangs, DLASTHR and the Assyrian Kings.

Strike Force Raptor started in a blaze of publicity after it was formed when the Comanchero and Hells Angels were involved in a deadly brawl at Sydney Airport in 2009.

Its profile and reputation as a tough, no-nonsense squad grew over the next decade and is credited with shutting down hundreds of clubhouses and breaking the back of bikie gangs in Sydney.

Officers in Strike Force Raptor prepare for a raid in Sydney’s south west. Picture: NSW Police

But the merging of the gang squad and Middle Eastern crime squad three years ago led to a change in the focus for the squad.

“It became more proactive investigations rather than high profile physical interactions with outlaw motorcycle gangs,” Deputy Police Commissioner Dave Hudson said.

Mr Hudson said since the outlaw bikie gangs are no longer visible, the arrests and work of Raptor has not had as much publicity as in the past.

“But they have still been out doing arrests and disruptive strategies on all crime groups which we will expand upon. The crime groups have changed their business model and so have we,” he said.

Since the conflicts between the different groups broke out in October, Raptor has laid more than 400 charges against 169 people connected to organised crime groups.

They have raided 85 premises, issued Firearm Prohibition Orders and recovered a staggering 729 weapons as well as more than $4 million cash and $1 million worth of drugs.

New boss Supt Weinstein is a 26-year veteran of the police.