Bikie, organised crime links to four Melbourne shooting murders in four days
A spate of gun murders is sweeping Melbourne, with four men shot dead in as many days — one victim a former associate of drug lord Tony Mokbel. From bikie connections to Middle Eastern crime links, these are the police theories on what sparked the violence.
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Police are hunting up to eight fugitives after a wave of Melbourne gun murders linked to gang conflicts.
Four men have been shot dead since last Friday, and senior officers on Tuesday conceded there was a “proliferation” of illegal guns in Australia, despite tough new laws to try to stem the black-market flow of firearms.
Since July 1 last year, the Australian Border Force has detected more than 1100 illegal guns and firearm parts and accessories nationwide.
MEADOW HEIGHTS: TWO MEN SHOT DEAD
KENSINGTON: DRUG WAR THEORY AS COPS HUNT GUNMAN
DANDENONG: DRIVER FOUND DEAD WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS
The Herald Sun can reveal one of the four victims, bikie-linked Mitat Rasimi, was a former associate of drug lord Tony Mokbel.
Rasimi was ambushed on a Dandenong roadside on Sunday night during a meeting with associates. He was repeatedly shot before ploughing his car into a tree as he tried to drive off to escape the gunmen. As well as outlaw motorcycle gang connections, possible links to Middle Eastern crime outfits have emerged in the four executions.
In the most recent outbreak of gun bloodshed, two men were shot dead at Meadow Heights in Melbourne’s northern suburbs on Monday night.
One victim was wheeled around in a shopping trolley, screaming for help before he died.
Investigators are still hunting three fugitives over last Friday’s fight-night triple shooting which left one man dead and two others wounded.
Mikhael Myko and brothers Ali and Abdullah El Nasher remain on the run after labourer Ben Togiai was fatally wounded at a boxing event at the Melbourne Pavilion in Kensington.
One theory is that months of conflict, marked by drive-by shootings and arson attacks, caused the violent flare-up.
But police are also aware the brothers’ networks are linked to a relative of Mokbel, the drug boss who was bashed and stabbed at Barwon Prison last month. Specialist investigators from the fugitive taskforce are looking for the three suspects.
Crime Command acting Assistant Commissioner Michael Frewen said each of the three incidents came after “planned contact” among people who knew each other.
He confirmed police were probing any gangland links.
“We are exploring all avenues. Each shooting has specific information and we are exploring the associations and reasons for contact,” he said. “This includes occupation, who they were associated with and what contact they had.”
Mr Frewen said the suburban shootings highlighted the “proliferation of firearms” in the community, a problem not confined to Melbourne.
“These guns are used as a tool of trade for protection or intimidation,” he said.
Meadow Heights resident Erdogan Selek said a topless man with neck tattoos ran to him for help after performing CPR on his bloodied mate lying on the footpath.
Mr Selek and his wife had arrived at their Huntly Court home about 10 minutes before the shooting.
“The guy walked up and asked for the address. I asked what happened, and he said: ‘My mate’s been shot — can you call triple-0’.” Mr Selek said the man was panicking and ran back to his mate to recommence CPR.
“He was distressed, really worried. His friend was lying on the nature strip opposite my house with blood on his face.”
Mr Selek described the man who had asked him for help as bald, caucasian, aged in his 30s with tattoos on his neck. He had removed his shirt to stem the bleeding from his fatally wounded mate.
The other Meadow Heights victim was seen being wheeled in a shopping trolley, crying for help and screaming “I’ve been shot” shortly before he died.
Sam Mohamad said he came across the dying man directly out the front of his home in Ellam Court — between the two streets where the two bodies were discovered about 10.15pm.
Mr Mohamad said he heard shots and screaming in the distance and ran out of his house. “I went outside and I saw this guy pushing the other one in the shopping trolley,” he said.
The man in the trolley had yelled: “Please call the police. Help me, I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot.”
Mr Mohamad said: “I ran inside and called the police.”
Two men were seen running from the scene.
A silver Toyota Echo hatchback with NSW plates was seen parked in the street before the violence broke out, and was towed away later.
Ulker Azer said she could hear a man crying out in pain.
When she went over to check, he had by then fallen out of the trolley and was lying beside it on the nature strip.
“I went over and said ‘I’m gonna call the police.’
“The other guy that was pushing him said, ‘Yeah, call the police. He’s been shot in the stomach’.”
That man had fled by the time police and paramedics had arrived.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online via crimestoppersvic.com.au
MOKBEL LINK IN DEALER’S DEATH
Mitat Rasimi was once part of the sprawling Tony Mokbel drug operation known as The Company.
On Sunday night he died badly wounded and terrified, after driving for his life in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.
Rasimi is believed to have met associates in or around Dawn Ave, Dandenong, just before 10pm.
There was a series of shots and the strongly-built Rasimi sped away, trying to escape assailants who opened fire, probably after leading him to the meeting.
He was able to drive a short distance but the damage was done and he ploughed his Peugeot into a power pole.
Police who attended the scene found him “unresponsive” and suffering gunshot wounds.
Rasimi, who had an Albanian background and was aged in his 50s, is believed to have outlaw motorcycle gang links. Those connections are expected to form a line of inquiry.
His distinctively bearded face was well-known in the Dandenong area’s tight community.
Rasimi was once regarded as a mid-level level drug dealer in the Tony Mokbel empire. A 2012 appeal hearing upheld a maximum five-year jail sentence, with a minimum of three years and four months, after he pleaded guilty to trafficking.
“Rasimi was sentenced on the basis that he was an intermediate drug dealer during this period — supplying street dealers who on-sold the drugs to their customers,” a Court of Appeal judgment said.
The killing is not believed to be linked to other shooting murders in Melbourne over the past five days.
Rasimi’s Peugeot was taken from the scene on a tray truck for forensic examination in the shooting’s aftermath.
Ballistic checks will be performed to establish what weapon or weapons were used. Part of the inquiries will also be around phone records and accounts from associates to try to pin down who Rasimi had arranged to meet before his fatal rendezvous.
Police hope people with dashcam footage from the area at the time of the murder may provide further clues on the shooters’ identities.
POLICE SET SIGHTS ON SHOOTINGS
Police and other law enforcement authorities have been working to tackle Melbourne’s gun problem for years.
In the past two years, Victoria Police has created a new squad to tackle gun crime and the state government has announced new Firearm Prohibition Orders to target organised crime families, bikies and other hardened criminals.
The new measures appeared to have made an impact until last Friday night, when a spate of shootings began which have now claimed the lives of four men across Melbourne.
The Herald Sun can reveal that since July 1 last year the Australian Border Force has detected more than 1100 hauls of illegal guns, firearm parts and gun accessories across the country.
Craig Palmer, the ABF’s Regional Commander for Victoria and Tasmania, said: “The ABF is constantly on the lookout for illegal imports of firearms and accessories.
“We work closely with state and federal law enforcement partners to ensure any firearms coming into the country are imported legally and are kept in accordance with the law.”
Earlier this year a 25-year-old man, a 26-year-old man and a 33-year-old man were charged for their alleged roles in trying to import a large number of gun parts into Melbourne. ABF officers at the Melbourne international mail facility targeted a shipment containing a toy motorcycle.
X-ray analysis led to the detection of multiple gun parts glued to the outside of the motorbike and two more packages containing gun parts were allegedly later found.
Between January 21 and 24 raids in Brunswick and Southbank, as well as in New South Wales, yielded 60 gun receivers, 26 30-bullet-magazines, 24 drum magazines capable of holding 50 bullets, 16 handgun frames, springs, magazine followers and end caps.
— with David Hurley