Alleged Comanchero bikie drug trafficker Joshua John Lucey bags bail after Taskforce Maxima arrest

An alleged Comanchero bikie has been granted bail despite allegations he was heavily involved in a ‘sophisticated conspiracy’ trafficking drugs for a year across Brisbane.

Joshua John Lucey at court in 2021 for an unrelated matter. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

An alleged Comanchero bikie has been granted bail despite allegations he was heavily involved in a ‘sophisticated conspiracy’ trafficking drugs for a year across Brisbane.

Joshua John Lucey, 38, was arrested earlier this month in a major Taskforce Maxima sweep targeting the alleged recruitment of gang members across the southeast.

Lucey and others are alleged to have trafficked drugs across South East Queensland from February 1, 2024, to February 6, 2025.

A court heard at his bail application on Friday how the “street crew” allegedly supplied commercial quantities of drugs ranging from an ounce to multiple kilograms.

“There is strong evidence of organised drug trafficking involving supply, enforcement of debts, money collection,” Magistrate Andrew Moloney told the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

The court heard police allegedly uncovered around $10,000 in cash – but no drugs – when they raided Lucey’s Mount Cotton home on February 6.

Lucey, who appeared over video link in court, nodded agreement as his lawyer Kris Jahnke told the court the evidence against his client was circumstantial.

He said it was limited to allegations that Lucey had participated in a chat group with 12 co-accused throughout the alleged trafficking period.

The court heard it was alleged the bikie syndicate used the encrypted app Theema to communicate – with the messages uncovered following the arrest of three other individuals last year.

Mr Jahnke said it was “clear that there is criminal activity going on in the chat groups” but argued there was insufficient evidence tying Lucey to the conversations.

“We don’t know who’s who in the zoo so to speak,” he said.

“There’s conversations going on between a number of people in an encrypted application over a very long time.”

“ … There’s no surveillance, there’s no direct evidence of the drug transactions, and there’s no direct attribution to what Mr Lucey was doing day to day to further the drug trafficking operation.”

Crown prosecutor Jack Scott the police objection to bail affidavit alleged Lucey had sent the “majority” of the messages and used nicknames including Popeye, Sailor Man, Freddy Krueger, Scream, and Stab.

“It will be a circumstantial case … what’s abundantly clear is that this is a sophisticated conspiracy involving multiple individuals,” Mr Scott said.

Mr Jahnke noted it was alleged another accused he had represented, Dustin Maugatai, had used the same nicknames as it was alleged Lucey had used.

“It looks like there’s cut and paste jobs in respect of each of the accused,” he said.

Mr Jahnke said the arresting officers had known for weeks that Lucey would be applying for bail today, but hadn’t put forward any additional evidence tying Lucey to the conversations.

“There’s no mention of his involvement in any way in the trafficking of the drugs other than the broad brush assertion … that there are multiple points of attribution including telecommunication service numbers, location data, photographs, financial records, and providing his particulars such as his residential address to others,” Mr Jahnke said.

Joshua John Lucey. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Mr Jahnke said the same paragraph existed in Maugatai’s police objection to bail affidavit, and on the affidavit for another co-accused Mark Adrian Mitchell.

Mr Scott acknowledged it would be “helpful” if there was more evidence included in the bail objection affidavit explaining Lucey’s alleged involvement, but he said Lucey was “still at this point in time, according to the investigating officer, a significant member”.

Mr Moloney noted Lucey was currently on bail for charges including arson, receiving tainted property, and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

Police allege Lucey breached that bail undertaking between February 1, 2024 and February 6, 2025 by communicating with his co-accused for those charges – Pelenato Halangahu.

The court heard Lucey had also been on bail during the alleged trafficking period for charges including enter premises, robbery and deprivation of liberty – but those charges have since been dismissed.

Mr Jahnke said the arson was alleged to have occurred in early 2023, but the matter was still in the evidence disclosure stage nearly two years later.

He said if Lucey were to be denied bail on the new charges, that it was likely he would sit in custody for years before any trial could take place.

“This is a sophisticated operation, it’s clear that there’s going to be a delay,” Mr Moloney agreed.

Mr Moloney noted Lucey’s criminal history included a five-year suspended sentence for drug trafficking in 2018.

But he granted Lucey bail, citing the delay and lacking identification evidence tying Lucey to the allegations as his primary deciding factors.

Lucey was given bail under conditions including a GPS tracker, surety, residential condition, curfew, no contact with his 12 co-accused, and international travel restrictions.

The matter was adjourned for mention on March 3, on the same date as a number of Lucey’s co-accused.

Lucey is charged with trafficking dangerous drugs (serious organised crime), recruiting a person to become a participant in a criminal organisation, possessing property (Australian currency) suspected of being the proceeds of a drug offence, and breaching the no contact condition in a bail undertaking he entered into on April 6, 2023.

Originally published as Alleged Comanchero bikie drug trafficker Joshua John Lucey bags bail after Taskforce Maxima arrest