The tactic Victoria Police is using to disarm dangerous criminals

Some of Victoria’s most dangerous criminals have attempted to challenge their gun bans but all have been denied due to a “stringent process”.

Dozens of crooks slapped with firearm prohibition ­orders have challenged the gun bans — but all failed to have them overturned.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal 52 people have applied to have their orders reviewed at the Victorian Civil and ­Administrative Tribunal since the gang-busting tool was introduced by the force four years ago.

The Saturday Herald Sun revealed the faces of gun dealers, outlaw bikies and organised crime figures among the 1490 high-risk subjects of an FPO across the state.

Acting Commander Peter Brigham of Victoria Police said FPOs were introduced in May 2018 “to give police a greater capacity to detect and disrupt those who look to bring harm into the community through the use of illicit firearms”.

“There is a stringent process in place to determine who is subject to an FPO, and the fact that no challenge to one being issued has been successful is testament to that,” Mr Brigham said.

The latest to launch a fight against the Chief Commissioner’s decision to issue him with an FPO was convicted gun dealer Mark White.

His case was listed for a three-day hearing in VCAT last week. But he withdrew it early in proceedings after consulting his lawyers.

“This is a pleasing outcome for Victoria Police and reinforces the strength and validity of the firearm prohibition order process,” Mr Brigham said.

In August 2019, White, then 47, was jailed for three months after being caught with a deadly Thureon fully automatic assault rifle, described in court as a “mass killing machine” capable of pumping out 1000 rounds per minute.

As a licensed gun dealer – rated among his peers as one of the best gunsmiths in Victoria – the Geelong father was ­allowed to hold an unregistered firearm but must notify relevant authorities.

He came undone after an investigation by Victoria Police’s armed crime squad, sparked by the discovery of an illegal gun held by a western suburbs drug dealer and ­another held by a high-level criminal involved in an armoured car holdup.

Detectives went to the US where they found Paul Munro, a mechanic from Victoria’s north, had been depositing cheques with the maker of the firearms, Thureon ­Defense in Wisconsin.

A shipment was planned in which guns were to be concealed in vehicle parts.

Munro was later arrested following an undercover operation in which he sold gun parts to a covert officer.

He is serving a 15-year jail term for smuggling firearms into the country.

White had importation charges dropped and pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered category E handgun. He was ordered to complete a two-year corrections order on his release from jail. That would have happened late last year.

It is believed he wanted the FPO lifted so he could ­return to the firearms industry.

How cops are disarming our most dangerous criminals

Gun dealers, outlaw bikies and Middle Eastern crime figures have been hit with firearm bans under a police crackdown to get guns off our streets.

Forty-four teenagers are also among the 1490 criminals ordered to not touch a gun or face up to 10 years in jail.

Today the Saturday Herald Sun uncovers the police war on armed offenders and exposes the brutes disarmed by tough firearm prohibition orders.

Among the criminals hit by the orders are:

REBELS bikie Matthew Bruce, who was caught on camera test-firing an illegal military-style SKS assault rifle in front of his baby daughter.

CONVICTED firearms trafficker Dylan Cragg, who is the son of a police officer.

BIKIE strongman Toby Mitchell, who has an extensive rapsheet and has survived two shootings.

FORMER gun dealer Dale O’Sullivan, whose nine-year-old son was accidentally shot and killed by his older brother at their Woodend home in 2001.

The state’s top detective, Acting Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill, said firearm-related violence in the community, especially shootings linked to bikies, had reduced.

“We believe FPOs are a significant contributor to this,” Mr Hill said.

Mr Hill said spontaneous shootings were being reduced by the orders because criminals were hesitant to risk such penalties and did not have weapons at the ready.

“Often we see disputes between people where action is taken in the heat of the moment, and where one of the parties can access a firearm, it can have potentially fatal consequences,” he said.

“We know that FPOs make it far harder for people to have a firearm in close proximity without facing significant penalties if they are caught.”

Victoria Police figures show the gangbusting tool is being used more and more by police, with 1181 FPOs issued in the last two years alone.

Officers issued 699 FPOs on “high risk” individuals in the 12 months to June 30 last year — a massive jump from the 231 the previous year, 111 in the 2018-19 financial year, and 92 in the year before that.

A further 482 people have been slapped with an FPO so far this financial year.

The highest number of orders (553) have been served on people aged 30-39, followed by 421 on 20 to 29-year-olds.

Alarmingly, there are 44 teenagers, aged 14 to 19, on FPOs.

Of those, 16 are minors aged just 14 to 17.

Teens on FPOs are mostly youth gang members with a high-level of offending, including home invasions and carjackings.

They also tend to mix with nasty associates.

A man was jailed for breaching an FPO after this sawn off rifle with a scope fitted was found by police buried in his Kangaroo Flat garden.

Anyone served with an order may not acquire, possess or use a firearm or a firearm-related item, or even enter a premises where guns are sold or used, including shooting ranges.

The Chief Commissioner can make an FPO if satisfied it is in the public interest to do so because of one or more of the following reasons: the person’s criminal history and behaviour, whom the person associates, and whether they may pose a threat or risk to public safety.

Notably, a person without any convictions could still be subject to an FPO.

Orders stand for five years for minors, but remain in place for 10 years for adults.

Those on the orders can face maximum 10-year prison terms for being in possession of guns, parts or ammunition.

Last year, police seized 1045 guns statewide — many of which were during FPO searches.

“There is absolutely no doubt that some of those seizures have prevented people being seriously injured or even killed,” Mr Hill said.

“Firearms are a valuable commodity for criminals because essentially they never expire.

“A gun that is decades old can still be used to threaten or harm someone.

“This also means that these illicit weapons become great enablers of organised crime such as drug manufacture and trafficking, homicides, extortion, armed robberies and more.”

The orders — introduced in May 2018 — got off to a slow start when the legislation was challenged in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by senior Rebels bikie Colin “Snake” Websdale.

He was one of the first to be slapped with the order and successfully fought to have it revoked, raising concerns the police’s new laws to crackdown on gun crime were ineffective.

But an appeal saw the order reinstated and others on FPOs, including bikie enforcer Toby Mitchell, left with no option to withdraw their own applications to have them reviewed by the tribunal.

The subject of an FPO has 28 days to apply to VCAT for a review. They can also apply for a review of the order midway through its duration.

BIKIE ‘MENACE’ FIRED RIFLE WITH BABY NEARBY

“Do you want to go play with daddy’s gun?”

Those were the chilling words of mother Cursty Shields to her one-year-old daughter as her Rebels bikie boyfriend Matthew Bruce asked her to film him test-firing an illegal military-style SKS assault rifle for a promotional video so he could sell it for $27,500.

They drove to Wombat State Forest, west of Melbourne, where Bruce, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and his daughter nearby, fired the deadly firearm.

Matthew Bruce firing a military-style SKS assault rifle with his baby daughter nearby.

The footage was shown in court where Bruce would later be jailed for a minimum 15 years for orchestrating a crime syndicate which dealt in high-powered guns, ammunition and drugs.

In February, the former Sergeant at Arms — who drove around in a car with the number plates FEARD — sought to appeal his maximum 21-year jail term, arguing his sentence was manifestly excessive.

Victoria’s Court of Appeal heard Bruce had been slapped with a firearms prohibition order in August 2018.

But by January the following year, the bikie strongman had in his possession no less than six guns, including an SKS military assault rifle, bolt action rifle and a handgun.

Court of Appeal president Chris Maxwell AC said the breach of the FPO was of “high level seriousness”.

“It effectively says, I’m not troubled by this (order) — I will effectively thumb my nose at the whole scheme,” Justice Maxwell said.

Cursty Shields and Matthew Bruce are now both in jail.

One of the guns seized detectives during their investigation of Bruce.

“It’s the deliberate disobedience of the lawful order not to have firearms,” he said.

In sentencing him in September, County Court judge Bill Stuart labelled Bruce “a menace to the community” responsible for “villainous conduct”.

Justice Maxwell remarked “in all his years” on the bench he had never heard a judge describe an offender that way.

“These were very dangerous weapons and someone who ignores an (FPO) … is a menace to the community, isn’t he?” Justice Maxwell said.

Echo Taskforce detectives swooped on Bruce and Shields in February 2019 following a three-month surveillance operation.

A search of their Melton South home found a cache of high-powered guns and $17,000 cash stashed in the freezer.

Shields is serving a three-year, four-month jail term for her part in the operation.

Bruce’s appeal judgment is pending.