Recent history of bikies on the Sunshine Coast following alleged Rebel OMCG arrests

As an alleged bikie threat in a Queensland beachside hotspot emerges, the dark past in the Sunshine Coast of drug raids, massive cash hauls and gang bosses has also come to light.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs and their chapters have made appearances on the Sunshine Coast in recent years.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs are hoping for a foothold in a popular Queensland beach destination following years of cameos in the region.

Police, however, continue to make concerted efforts to break up the bikie threat on the Sunshine Coast.

The possible movements of bikie groups on the Sunshine Coast are fresh in the minds of the community following the arrests of three men with alleged ties to the Rebels OMCG.

Court documents obtained by this publication revealed police concerns of the Rebels ramping up recruitment through a feeder club on the Sunshine Coast, with a large number of members seen at the Rebels clubhouse in late September.
Police further claim in court documents that members of this criminal group have committed other offences on the Sunshine Coast, including an assault where a young victim was “too fearful of reprisal” to speak to police.

The Sunshine Coast has had a longstanding history of bikie groups along with their alleged members and associates making cameos in the region.

Recent raids and police operations

Detective Inspector Chris Toohey said the recent arrests continued their success of disrupting and foiling gangs having a presence on the Sunshine Coast.

Inspector Toohey said part of their success involved Operation Victor Albatross, which was launched last year to keep unwanted OMCG and other organised crime affiliates out of the district.

The covert operation was hatched after police received intelligence of bikies gangs attempting to set up shop on the Sunshine Coast.

The operation involved raids, in which 17 firearms and a combined $247,000 worth of meth and cocaine drugs were allegedly seized, along with more than 87 arrests and 350 charges.

From the start of the operation until December 15, police executed 69 search warrants and seized more than $90,000 in cash, police allege.

It was understood one of those arrested was an alleged member of the Bandidos.

Operation Victor Albatross was established to target outlaw motorcycle gangs on the Sunshine Coast.

Inspector Toohey said last week through their investigations, police recently made a number of arrests across several motorcycle groups which included the Rebels, Comanchero and the Mongols.

Separate police investigations into drug trafficking in the district have also revealed other alleged ties to bikie gangs.

Detectives allegedly seized a number of loaded firearms, large quantities of cocaine, ice and cannabis as well as evidence of other offending including stolen property in previous raids.

Alleged members on the Sunshine Coast

Members of bikie gangs have had their presence known in the district in recent years, whether it was on club business or in their personal lives.

Kevin Lindsay Murray was sentenced in March of 2022 where he pleaded guilty to three charges including wilful damage and common assault.

The court heard he assaulted a woman holding a baby by poking her in the forehead with his finger and damaged a phone before he ran towards another person with his fists up prior to his arrest.

Kevin Lindsay Murray outside court in 2022.

A bail document stated Murray was an outlaw motorcycle gang member with the Rebels Sunshine Coast Chapter.

He was placed on a nine-month probation order with no conviction order.

Murray was sentenced again in May of 2022 after he pleaded guilty to possessing steroids and failing to dispose of a needle. He was fined $800 with convictions recorded.

Blair Raymond Thomsen was also linked to the Caloundra chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle in court documents following his guilty plea to extortion in the Maroochydore District Court in 2017, where he demanded a former member of the club give him his motorcycle in 2013.

Blair Raymond Thomsen.

Thomsen was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment with six days on remand declared as time served.

It was ordered that the term be suspended for five years after Thomsen served 16 months.

Thomsen sought leave to appeal his sentence in 2018 but the matter was dismissed.

A prominent Rebels member who was known in the district was Tony Jardine, who was at one point the club’s president and a member of the club for more than 20 years.

Tony Jardine.

In an interview with this publication in 2013, he spoke of the club and its impact on his family, his lifestyle and alleged criminal activity by club members.

Jardine appeared in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court in 2013 and pleaded guilty on behalf of the club, which was charged with exposing liquor for sale without a licence following a raid on the Kunda Park clubhouse.

Other linked members of the Rebels included father and son duo Michael William Smith and Steven William Smith who were sentenced at the Brisbane Supreme Court in 2016 for their involvement in a drug trafficking operation.

Michael Smith, then 57, was given an eight-year head sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking meth between 2012 and 2013 and other drug and weapons charges.

His son, Steven Smith, then 30, who pleaded guilty to supplying the drug, received immediate parole because he had already spent 80 days in solitary confinement.

Michael Smith outside Brisbane Supreme Court.

Steven Michael Smith.

The court heard Michael Smith, a former Rebels sergeant-at-arms, produced about 1.3kg of meth – 112g which was pure – and sold about $166,000 worth of the drug.

Steven Smith was also arrested and charged under the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act for being alleged participants in a bikie club meeting in a group of more than two people at a Yandina pub in 2013.

He became known as one of the infamous ‘Yandina 7’ but he was found not guilty in 2017.

Originally published as Recent history of bikies on the Sunshine Coast following alleged Rebel OMCG arrests