Inside the SA Police operations bunker as co-ordinated raids smashed Adelaide’s underworld

At 5.30am on Monday, a senior South Australian detective radioed the phrase “execute resolution” – and more than 400 cops sprang into action.

It took just a few seconds for South Australia’s largest covert police investigation into organised crime to dramatically become overt.

At precisely 5.30am on Monday, as the majority of Adelaide slept, more than 400 police officers kicked down the front doors of almost 50 properties across the metropolitan area.

After more than three months of intense and meticulous planning, Operation Ironside – targeting Comanchero bikie gang members and associates, and a plethora of other organised criminals entrenched in the methamphetamine and cannabis trade – reached its climax.

The unprecedented action was mirrored across Australia, cumulatively involving more than 4000 police officers as a direct result of the most cunning police sting in history orchestrated by the Australian Federal Police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In Adelaide, where more than 400 police officers were in the field conducting simultaneous raids, the huge operation was being directed from inside the secure bunker of the Police Operations Centre.

SA Police Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Peter Harvey, Federal Police Detective Superintendent Gail McClure and SA Police Crime Branch Chief Superintendent Steve Taylor helped direct the operation. Picture: AFP/SA Police

Inside the restricted room were 30 of the state’s most senior and experienced police officers, many of whom have been at war with Adelaide’s bikies and organised criminals for decades.

Also present were senior Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission officers. In an adjacent room were half a dozen intelligence analysts providing vital real-time information to officers in the field as the raids unfolded.

Each of those in the room had a specific role and each was the most proficient in their respective positions. In the minutes leading up to the raids, the atmosphere inside the Police Operations Centre was electric.

There was no margin for error and split-second timing would ensure the obvious risks to those involved lessened.

There was silence when a senior detective radioed the “execute resolution, execute resolution” command to dozens of teams of officers carefully positioned throughout the metropolitan area.

Each was holding at strategic rally points close to their assigned target address – all displayed on a Google map on a huge flat screen – awaiting the crucial order.

One key address was a gym located in an inner suburb, where a high-value target was found.

Live vision of the raid on that premises – courtesy of air support – was being viewed intently by those in the Police Operations Centre. The target was arrested without incident.

On other screens, live footage of a rural property showed numerous white figures – STAR Group officers – glowing in the infra-red vision as they surrounded the house and made an armed entry. Once again, the target was arrested without incident.

Observing the respective raids unfolding live was eerily like sitting in a comfy recliner while watching a movie in your loungeroom – except this was real and lives were at risk.

Over the ensuing 15 minutes, encrypted radio handsets crackled to life intermittently as each team leader reported in with a result.

Each was successful, except one, which reported its target was not present. As each team radioed in, a detective placed a red cross on dozens of individual target summaries pinned to the rear wall of the Police Operations Centre.

Police officers in a raid at a property on Cross Rd, Urrbrae, on Tuesday. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Crucially, within 20 minutes, STAR Group commander Superintendent Craig Wall reported all high-risk targets had been successfully arrested without incident.

Speaking in the Police Operations Centre just over an hour after the raids were launched, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Peter Harvey was cautiously relieved.

“It appears everything went well. Many of the targets were high-level outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime figures prone to violence,’’ he said.

“We know these people have access to guns and are not scared to use them. There is an inherent danger.

“While no police were injured, unfortunately one target was slightly injured when he jumped a fence to avoid police.’’

While police raided almost 80 properties across the wider metropolitan area as the operation continued until late Monday, about 15 were prioritised because of the value of the targets and the likelihood of resistance anticipated by police.

Those raids were led by teams of STAR Group officers and, because of the sheer scope of the operation and its demand on specialist resources, officers from the state’s anti-terror unit were also deployed. Operation Ironside SA base commander detective Superintendent Steve Taylor, the officer in charge of the Serious and Organised Crime Branch, shared Mr Harvey’s visible relief that the raids had been incident free.

“The risk involved in these types of armed entries is obvious. It’s something that is carefully considered and meticulously planned,’’ Superintendent Taylor said.

“All of our targets were arrested safely and the fact they were either still asleep or surprised by our early-morning raids made it clear that the operational security of the operation was in no way compromised.’’

Crime doesn’t pay – SA Police display $1.8 million in cash seized during Operation Ironside. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Mr Harvey said while Monday’s operation was significant because of its size and scope, many similar operations on a smaller scale were conducted as part of SA Police’s fight against organised crime.

“This is our job, for the organised criminals it’s their job 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’’ Mr Harvey said.

“The stakes a very high. They are coming with all the money in the world and using the latest communications technology to try to beat us and they do not play by any rules.

“We have legitimate and proper rules to follow in tackling them but through our tenacity, ingenuity and the teamwork of law enforcement agencies, we present a formidable machine.

“This is just round one, there will be round two, round three and round four.’’

Originally published as Inside the SA Police operations bunker as co-ordinated raids smashed Adelaide’s underworld