Comancheros right hand man charged following dawn raids

EXCLUSIVE: THE right hand man of Comancheros boss Mick Murray has been charged with 34 offences following dawn raids earlier this week.

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THE RIGHT hand man of Comancheros boss Mick Murray has been charged with 34 offences following dawn raids earlier this week.

Rob Ale, 35, from Lyndhurst, is allegedly a senior figure in a criminal syndicate which operates under the Comancheros bikie gang.

Tuesday’s raids, which involved 300 officers including investigators from Victoria Police’s Echo taskforce and the AFP’s National Anti-Gangs Squad, are also understood to have yielded some “bonus” material which police were not expecting.

Comanchero member Rob Ale was arrested in bikie raids around Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

Mick Murray outside the County Court in 2015. Picture: Hamish Blair

Ale appeared before magistrate Sharon Smith briefly at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday before his case was adjourned.

A total of 19 people have been charged after 22 were arrested following the raids in Melbourne’s southeast on Tuesday morning.

Sources have told the Herald Sun that Ale is considered to be “the right hand man” of Mr Murray and his arrest is a blow to the Comancheros.

Ale faces a range of charges, including:

— Inciting underlings to commit violence.

— Both inciting others to and himself trafficking commercial quantities of methamphetamine, or ice.

— Dealing in proceeds of crime and inciting or instructing others to do so.

— Stealing an $85000 luxury 2015 Mercedes ML350 Wagon on November 26.

— Conspiring with others to commit arson on November 8 and November 26 last year.

— Possessing a handgun which was not registered.

— Making threats to kill and threats to inflict serious injury.

Ale did not speak during his short two minute appearance at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and was remanded in custody to appear again on July 24.

Business records show Ale is listed as a director of a company called Pioneer Fitness Plus and is a former director of Switch Superfoods.

Comanchero member Rob Ale was arrested in bikie raids around Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

Tuesday’s dramatic raids saw police raid 26 homes and a factory.

Cars, a motorcycle, a gun, jewellery, cash, phones and computers were removed from the properties, mostly in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.

Drugs including cocaine, GHB, cannabis, ecstasy and steroids were also seized.

The anti-bikie Echo taskforce launched a probe last July after several non-fatal shootings and firebombings, including attacks on Kittens strip clubs in South Melbourne and Caulfield South.

A Rebels OMCG clubhouse was destroyed in a suspicious fire in Dandenong South on October 21 last year.

Police arrested a man in connection with that incident on Tuesday but have taken steps to protect his identity over fears he could be targeted in a reprisal attack.

@davidhurleyHS