Mongols bikies targeted in covert NT Police investigations

Territory police have smashed the Mongol bikie gang’s leadership and stronghold across the north after an 18-month operation.

The Mongols motorcycle gang’s national president, local vice-president, and local sergeant-at-arms are among 40 bikies the NT Police have arrested in the past 18 months.

NT Police detective superintendent of the drug and organised crime unit Lee Morgan said task force members seized 1.2kg of methamphetamine, 6.8kg of cannabis, 34 firearms, and more than $500,000 in cash in that time.

He said 140 offences had been submitted including commercial drug supply, extortion, conspiring to pervert justice, recklessly endangering serious harm, aggravated assault, and unlawful use of motor vehicles.

Speaking generally, Mr Morgan said members of outlaw motorcycle gangs were “ruthless in their ways, in dealing with the community, and committing crimes”.

“These people are bad people,” he said.

“They stand over people, they import drugs, they intimidate people.”

NT Police’s drugs and organised crime gangs task force arrested 40 Mongols bikies in an 18-month period. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Mr Morgan said today’s bikies were “very covert” in their offending, and as such the NT Police used a mix of covert and overt strategies to target the gangs.

“It’s not like it was back in the 90s, early 2000s where these people are out in bars wearing their patches on their back and starting fights and assaulting people,” he said.

“They are responsible for a large amount of drug crime, which then filters through to low-level street crime.

“You might have a young kid in a nightclub buying ecstasy, ends up in hospital, maybe dying – there’s a good chance those drugs initiated through an outlaw motorcycle gang.”

Mr Morgan said the Mongols were “very well-organised” with reporting obligations, financial obligations, and in-house policies to follow.

“It’s not always the members committing the offences,” he said.

“They like to bring people in, treat it as a social club, a bit of a brotherhood.

“They’ll then stand over these people once they’ve got them under their wing and force them to commit offences.”

Mongols national president Nick 'The Knife' Forbes walking with his defence barrister Michael Gatenby outside of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Picture: Floss Adams.

Mr Morgan said the current operation primarily targeting the Mongols since September 2021 would “wrap up to some extent”, but NT Police would continue its heavy focus on local motorcycle gangs and their associates.

He said the Mongols, Hell’s Angels, Rebels, Outlaws, and Bandidos had members in the Territory.

“Some of the clubs are quite small in their stature – that’s not to say they’re not committing serious offences,” he said.

“We will continue to be ruthless in our approach in combating these offences and combating these people.

“They’re a blight on society and we will do everything in our power to continue to eradicate them as best we can.”