Ex-Bandido bikie, Mongrel Mob member Jarrod Rangiuai to be deported to New Zealand

Former Bandido bikie and Mongrel Mob member Jarrod Rangiuai will be deported from Australia to New Zealand after losing a legal fight to stay.

A former Bandido bikie and Mongrel Mob member will be thrown out of Australia after losing a legal fight to stay.

Jarrod Rangiuai, who migrated here as a 17-year-old, will now be sent back to New Zealand after a ruling by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia sitting in Melbourne.

Rangiuai first started to associate with members of the Mongrel Mob in 2017 and became a formal member at a ceremony in Melbourne the following year.

Rangiuai first started to associate with members of the Mongrel Mob in 2017.

He was given an MM vest and was on board for two years.

During that time, Rangiuai was fined over a confrontation with police and was involved in an organised gang fight in which baseball bats were wielded and vehicles damaged.

Rangiuai’s involvement with the Mongrel Mob ended when it shut down here in 2020.

In 2022, he became a prospect member of the Bandidos.

Rangiuai attended an official Bandido gathering that year in Victoria and was issued a Bandidos’ prospect vest, later found in his luggage at Coolangatta Airport when he flew home to Queensland.

He later claimed he was Bandido for as little as four weeks.

In 2023, Rangiuai’s visa was cancelled off the back of information from Queensland Police and he was taken into immigration custody.

Deputy President Peter Britten-Jones of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal believed Rangiuai had spent longer as a Bandido than he admitted.

Cannabis was found on Rangiuai this year in an immigration detention centre and a number of domestic violence matters prior to 2020 were also considered by the tribunal.

The cancellation had been carried out under section 501 of the Migration Act.

A high number of New Zealand-born figures linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs have been deported in the past decade, to the point where they are known as the 501s.

Deputy President Peter Britten-Jones of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal said in rejecting the visa cancellation appeal that Rangiuai had downplayed his involvement in the outlaw gangs and it was “simply implausible” that he did not know they were involved in illegal activities.

“He made two interstate trips from Queensland to Melbourne which suggests a significant involvement. He attended numerous gang meetings,” he said.

“It is inconsistent for the applicant to say he knew nothing of illegal activities when he participated in the organised gang fight in September, 2019, and when he was regularly abusing drugs at the time he was a member of those gangs.”

Mr Britten-Jones said he believed Rangiuai had spent longer as a Bandido than he admitted.