Man arrested in raids by anti-bikie Echo Taskforce in Melbourne’s outer east
A MEMBER of the Rebels bikie gang has been arrested after raids across four properties in Melbourne’s southeast this morning.
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A CHANCE meeting and fight between gang members of the Rebels and Comancheros has led to two arrests and four raids across Melbourne’s southeast.
The affray that broke out in the Dandenong area in the past fortnight resulted in raids across four properties in Beaconsfield, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills and Lyndhurst.
A Rebels member was arrested around 7.30am Wednesday outside a house in Beaconsfield.
The man, 24, is suspected of being involved in inflicting injuries on a member of the rival gang in what was feared could flare into another tit-for-tat battle between the bikie gangs
The friction between the two bikie clubs began when a high-ranking Comanchero was ambushed by Rebels bikies while on holiday in Darwin in April last year.
A truce was brokered by police between the two gangs in 2015 after a series of bashings, firebombings and drive-by shootings.
Two Melbourne tattoo parlours were firebombed and Comancheros travelled to Darwin to bash a Rebels member.
But police intervention stopped the feud escalating into a nationwide war.
The house where the arrested Rebels member was living was the target of a drive-by shooting in May last year.
He arrived at the house just after 7am today and was quickly handcuffed by detectives and driven away in an unmarked police car.
His girlfriend told the Herald Sun she did not want to comment on the arrest.
“We won’t be making any comment later,’’ she said.
Specialist anti-bikie taskforce officers took several large evidence bags from the house and the dog squad searched two cars in the driveway.
Another man, believed to be in his 30s, was also arrested, at the Rebels club house in Dandenong South and is assisting police with their inquiries.
The raids coincide with the Rebels national run this weekend.
Bikies from Tasmania will arrive this weekend aboard the Spirit of Tasmania to join other gang members to ride to Canberra.