Hundreds of teens arrested as part of crackdown on youth gangs in Victoria
Hundreds of teen gang members have been arrested as part of a major police crackdown into youth offending, with dozens of raids leading to the seizure of firearms, drugs, and prohibited weapons.
Police & Courts
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A swoop on Victoria’s most dangerous youth gangs has led to the arrests of hundreds of suspected offenders involved in serious crime.
The Herald Sun can reveal Victoria Police’s Operation Alliance, an ongoing probe targeting youth gang crime, has resulted in 251 arrests across some of the state’s hot spots in its first month.
Of those arrests, 70 people have been remanded in custody, many of whom were on bail.
Overall, police have laid more than 720 charges for offences including possessing firearms, drug dealing, robbery, aggravated burglary, car theft, violence and breaching bail.
The majority of those charged by police are males aged between their mid-teens and mid 20s.
Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said the focus was on stemming harm by disrupting emerging gang activity.
Mr Nugent said Operation Alliance, which began on September 13, was making an immediate impact by sharing police intelligence statewide to not only catch gang members committing serious crimes, but to prevent youths climbing up the organised crime ladder.
“Gangs have been around in some way, shape or form since the Kelly Gang,’’ he said
“This is targeting the street crime gang. The less co-ordinated group.’’
Mr Nugent said police intelligence had sharpened its focus on who to target.
“In each area we will know the gangs that have formed. They will be hit early before they cause significant harm,’’ he said.
“It’s an anti-gang strategy focused on serious street offending such as aggravated burglaries, stabbings and violence.’’
As part of the operation 88 search warrants have been executed in youth crime hot spots across Greater Melbourne in suburbs such as North Melbourne, Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Werribee, Cranbourne, Dandenong and Pakenham.
Police have also made a series of arrests in Geelong suburbs Corio, and Bell Post Hill.
During the raids police seized illicit firearms, drugs, and prohibited weapons such as knives, tomahawks, swords, tasers, knuckle dusters, and machetes.
In an effort to thwart those considered a threat of ongoing serious and violent crime, police have issued 24 Firearm Prohibition Orders (FPOs), although only two young offenders were found with guns.
One of those men, found with a sawn off shotgun, was a 23-year-old who is a known gang member.
Significantly, of those slapped with FPOs, 21 were issued in Greater Geelong alone.
During a month of intense investigations into 42 known gangs, Operation Alliance with the aid of the Gangs Crime Squad, is using and compiling a bank of intelligence connecting troubled youths.
Social media continues to be a way for the gang members to connect.
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