Five years on from the infamous Broadbeach bikie brawl, the Gold Coast faces a new threat - and police a new challenge - from emerging gangs such as the Villains.

While it’s unlikely Queensland’s tough bikie laws will allow a repeat of the September 2013 Broadbeach brawl - when a terrifying ‘lynch mob’ of Bandido bikies stormed a busy dining strip hunting a gang rival and later laid siege to Southport police station - police say the new wave of gangs are trying to establish a beachhead on the Glitter Strip.

Queensland’s top anti-gang cops, Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe and Det Inspector Stephen Blanchfield, revealed the latest threat in an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail to mark the 5th anniversary of the Broadbeach brawl which ushered in Australia’s harshest bikie laws.

They say while outlaw motorcycle gang membership has plummeted in Queensland since 2013, new gangs like the Villains are seeking to muscle in on traditional bikie turf.

And despite having been driven underground, established gangs such as the Bandidos, Hells Angels and Rebels remain highly active, police say.

But they are vowing to smash the “new” and “old: gangs, using what they say are the Palaszczuk Government’s “strong” anti-gang laws which replaced the Newman Government’s controversial VLAD legislation in 2016.

WHO ARE THE NEW BIKIES?

Supt Lowe said Queensland’s bikie landscape had altered significantly since the Broadbeach brawl, with a ‘genuine reduction’ in gang membership.

Recent figures put the number of “patched” bikies across the state at about 700, down from 1158 in 2013.

“We’re seeing an increase in disassociation (from gangs) and a decrease in membership,” said Supt Lowe, who heads the Organised Crime Gangs Group.

He said the latest anti-gang laws, which prohibit bikies from flaunting gang colours and paraphernalia in public and consorting with criminals, have been instrumental in reducing gang membership.

Supt Lowe said bikies could no longer legally parade their gang apparel as a show of force and intimidation - and those who did were being charged. Under the LNP, bikies were banned from wearing their colours only in licensed venues.

“We no longer see - within the community, within licensed premises, on motorbikes and in cars - those persons wearing their colours,” he said.

“We think it’s a really important aspect of our operations and the legislation because no longer can these individuals parade their membership to intimidate the public.

“There’s a lot of meaning behind some of the patches they wear that signal to other members that they’re prone to violence. Disturbingly, a number of patches signal violence or denigration towards women.

“You can get a patch for gang-raping a woman.”

More than 30 bikies had been charged for wearing gang paraphernalia in public since the Serious and Organised Crime Legislation Amendment Bill came into force in late 2016, Supt Lowe said.

Significantly, he said, none of those charged had been wearing actual colours - only paraphernalia such as rings and t-shirts.

He said the ban on gang gear had robbed the gangs of one of their main recruiting tools - the ability to publicly glamorise the bikie culture and lifestyle.

Supt Lowe said six people had been charged so far under consorting laws, which carry up to three years’ jail, while about 800 consorting warning notices had been issued - more than 200 on the Gold Coast alone. Under the legislation, people associating with “recognised offenders” have to be officially warned before they can be charged with ‘habitual consorting’.

WHO ARE THE BARBAROS?

In May, alleged Villains gang member Harley Barbaro - brother of murdered Sydney underworld boss Pasquale Barbaro - became the first person in Queensland to be charged with habitual consorting. The case is still before the courts.

The Barbaro family has long history of violence and bloodshed, dating back to 1990 when Harley’s grandfather - also named Pasquale - was executed outside his home in Brisbane.

In 2003, a cousin also named Pasquale was shot dead alongside Melbourne “Underbelly” gangster Jason Moran.

Harley’s brother, Pasquale, was gunned down in Sydney in November 2016.

Harley Barbaro made headlines in July when he took to Instagram to attack former Hells Angel Ben ‘Notorious’ Geppert, calling him a “maggot dog”.

Geppert has been in and out of custody since he and his “Instafamous” girlfriend, Allaina Vader, were booted off Hamilton Island in February.

WHAT ARE THE POLICE DOING?

Supt Lowe said the Villains had been “contained” on the Gold Coast but police were keeping close tabs on them.

“We’re very proactive in policing the risk the Villains pose to the Gold Coast community by prosecuting them, targeting them with consorting notices and disrupting their behaviour,” he said.

Other gangs have also surfaced on the Coast in recent times, including the Black Jackets - an immigrant gang that sprang up in Germany and the Netherlands in the mid 1980s.

The Crime and Corruption Commission last year named violent Dutch bikie gang Satudarah as having established a Gold Coast presence, along with infamous Sydney gang the Commancheros.

Earlier this year, the State Government outlawed Satudarah and notorious New Zealand street gang the Mongrel Mob which has also established a presence on the Gold Coast and in Logan.

Supt Lowe said while police closed down 28 bikie clubhouses across the state following the Broadbeach brawl, the gangs were “absolutely” still trying to hold clandestine meetings and gatherings.

In May, officers from anti-bikie squad Taskforce Maxima raided a shed at Lawnton that was being used as a makeshift Rebels bikie clubhouse, seizing items including gang paraphernalia, a pool table, beer fridge and sound system and issuing gang members with consorting notices and Public Safety Orders which ban them from the premises.

“They (bikies) may well be meeting in licensed premises too on an ad hoc basis,” Supt Lowe said.

“But their ability to have their overt clubhouses and their parties and their tattoo shows no longer exists. If they were to have overt premises whether it be private or elsewhere, we would shut them down.”

Supt Lowe revealed Queensland police had followed bikies interstate on national “runs” which are prohibited in this state, and stood “side-by-side” with southern counterparts to crack down on the bikie menace.

He said as well as moving interstate, bikies driven out of Queensland had also fled to southeast Asia and he and his colleagues were working closely with police there to crack down on activities including drug trafficking.

Supt Lowe, who chairs national anti-gangs Taskforce Morpheus, said federal law enforcement authorities were also tackling the bikies through strategies such as visa cancellation.

Last month, Bandidos bikie and Broadbeach brawl participant Jim Thacker was arrested by Border Force officers and deported back to NZ. About 30 Queensland bikies have had visas cancelled or refused since 2013.

Queensland police said that since March 2015, 1920 outlaw motorcycle gang members had been charged with 10,064 offences, including consorting, recruiting to a criminal organisation and wearing a prohibited item.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said Queensland had the “toughest, most comprehensive anti-bikie gang laws in Australia”.

“Under our laws, it’s no wonder bikies are heading over the border to NSW,” he said.

“Police themselves say that, as a direct result of our tough wearing of colours and consorting laws, bikies hide their colours and travel solo until they are over the border.

“Significant elements of our laws have already been adopted in Tasmania. I would like to see them adopted across the nation.

“That way, the bikie problem isn’t transferred from state to state.”