Bandidos bikie gang members put on notice ahead of national meet in Ballarat

Swarms of Bandidos bikie gang members have been warned by police ahead of an annual national meet up in Ballarat this weekend.

Bandidos bikie gang members descending on Ballarat this weekend for their national run have been warned by police to be on their best behaviour.

The gathering will start in the western Victorian city on Saturday and the riders will then travel to Ballan and Buninyong before heading back to Ballarat.

The city has for many years been a Bandido stronghold and has hosted a number of national runs, not always without drama.

In October, 2023, local office-bearer Matthew Rizzo was shot near the gang’s Greenbank Court, Delacombe, clubhouse.

The Echo taskforce investigation into that incident, in which Rizzo suffered injuries described as not life-threatening, remains ongoing.

Bandidos OMG from around Australia head into Buninyong during their national run last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Investigators later said the shooting was targeted and may have been the result of internal friction.

Members of the Echo and VIPER taskforces, as well as local officers and specialist units will monitor the weekend run.

Police say they will move fast against any OMCG members committing criminal, road safety or public order offences.

Supt Frank Sells said there would be an increased police presence to minimise any community disruption or intimidation.

“Members of the Echo and VIPER Taskforces, alongside local police, will have a vehicle checkpoint set up on the route to ensure the riders are complying with the road rules and conducting themselves appropriately,” Supt Sells said.

“We will be monitoring all activity and will be ready to take swift action to prevent, detect and disrupt any potential unlawful activity. It will not be tolerated. Victoria Police is not intimidated by OMCGs and we will not allow our communities to be.

“The local community can be assured that Victoria Police has made wide scale preparations and is ready to appropriately monitor and respond to OMCG activities for this national run.”

The run comes after Victoria Police this week hosted Australia’s top OMCG police in the national gang investigator course.

Police will be on watch for the entire weekend. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Previous Bandidos meets have come with their share of drama. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The three-day course was run by the national Operation Morpheus, which Victoria currently heads, and involved about 100 police from Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian Federal Police-funded course aims to teach those attending important skills in combating OMCG offending and building an environment hostile to them.

Victoria Police set up its own bikie specialist investigation team, Echo Taskforce, in 2011 and its members were on hand to share intelligence and case studies in what senior police believe will be an important exercise in equipping investigators for their work.

Morpheus chair detective Sup Jason Kelly said the course was crucial in developing an integrated approach to the challenged posed by OMCGS.

“Since 2014, National Taskforce Morpheus has been working to enhance coordination across jurisdictions to disrupt these sophisticated criminal networks,” Supt Kelly said.

“This taskforce is critical in addressing the fact that outlaw motorcycle gangs are now the largest criminal cohort in Australia, with 38 gangs and about 4500 patched members.

This week Victoria Police hosted Australia’s top OMCG police in the national gang investigator course. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“Astonishingly, about one quarter to one third of organised criminals in Australia are OMCG members, and another third have connections to them.”

Echo taskforce’s detective Insp. Mick Daly said OMCGs had shown themselves to be involved in a vast array of offending, including violent assaults, shootings, drug trafficking, extortion and the illegal tobacco industry.

“This investigator’s course provided an opportunity for key stakeholders to get together to discuss events such as the police response to this weekend’s Bandidos national run in the Ballarat area which these bikie groups use as a recruitment tool,” Insp Daly said.