Notorious Victorian bikies, gangsters to be slapped with gun ban
VICTORIA’S most notorious criminals will be slapped with gun bans next month that will see them jailed for up to a decade if police catch them with a firearm.
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EXCLUSIVE: Victoria’s most notorious criminals will be slapped with gun bans next month that will see them jailed for up to a decade if police catch them with a firearm.
The Herald Sun understands former bikie Toby Mitchell is among a group of high-profile and dangerous criminals likely to be the first to be subject to the new Firearm Prohibition Orders.
Police have drawn up a list of about 3000 members of organised crime families, bikies, potential extremists and hardened criminals who will be subject to the strict ban.
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Senior police will issue the FPO, giving officers the power to search a suspect, their car, their home and even those in their company if there is suspicion of a firearm being carried.
Police would not require a warrant. If a firearm, ammunition or even gun components are found, the suspect faces 10 years’ jail.
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Sources say Mitchell, a former Bandidos strongman who survived being shot multiple times, is likely to be among the first criminals hit with an FPO.
Hasan Topal, the model turned leader of the feared Comanchero, and now at the centre of a violent power struggle inside that bikie gang, has seen his name rocket up the police’s FPO candidate list.
Mongols sergeant-at-arms Shane Middleton, caught with a pistol months after being shot in November 2015, is another outlaw bikie likely to be the subject of the ban.
Hells Angels associates Ben and Daniel Pegoraro, and Omar Chaouk, a member of the notorious western suburbs crime family, are also facing FPOs.
Police Minister Lisa Neville said: “These tough new powers will take guns out of the hands of Victorian criminals. From bikies to Middle Eastern crime gangs, they’ll be monitored and searched by police.”
Underworld figure Mohammad Keshtier, known as Afghan Ali, is believed to be a strong candidate for an FPO.
Keshtier, who was released from prison last year, is said to be an influential figure among younger criminals and was doing time for two attempted murders and a separate shooting.
He was sent back to jail soon after a man was shot dead in his front yard last August.
Keshtier is not regarded as a suspect in that crime.
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Chaouk, who accidentally shot himself in the testicle in 2015, has a history of gun crime, including pulling a weapon on one of his associates to steal his car.
Recently released western suburbs crime boss Fadi Haddara — who was jailed for a gun racket and ice empire — could also be a target of the new laws.
The Haddara and Chaouk families have been linked to a spate of shootings in Melbourne’s west.
The legislation allows for teens as young as 14 to be issued a gun ban, which will last for up to five years for juveniles and a decade for adults.
The dramatic new orders can be appealed at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Given the orders’ effectiveness in disrupting bikie gangs interstate, patched members and associates will be among the first issued with the new gun bans.
The new tool in Victoria Police’s arsenal could also be deployed to help quell the bloody dispute within the Comanchero gang.
The factional brawl between rivals Mick Murray and Jay Malkoun will soon see its members subjected to the strict new regime, which would make the gang’s clubhouses and properties fair game for warrantless raids.
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Members of Middle Eastern crime gangs in Melbourne’s north and west, whose feuding has driven a five-year shooting spree that led to more than 125 people being wounded, will also be a focus of the firearm prohibition orders.
It is understood Victoria Police could follow the NSW example where officers have conducted regular weekly searches against individual gang members, significantly disrupting their crime activity.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said work on implementing the new laws was well under way.
