Supreme Court hearing to soon begin on Bandidos drug-bust case
After lengthy delays, an alleged senior Bandido member and his associate have both entered pleas to trafficking charges stemming from a 2020 Dover sting operation. What the court heard.
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An alleged Bandidos bikie boss and one of his associates have pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine following a sting operation in 2020.
Fahed and Tracy Elniz, both in their late 40s, appeared in The Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart on Wednesday, as plans were made for their disputed facts hearing to commence as soon as possible.
Both Mr and Mrs Elniz have been charged with conspiracy to traffic, but a trial scheduled for October 2023 and then July 2024 both failed to proceed.
Justice Porter said “we need to get a start if we can” as various logistics of the impending disputed facts hearing, including the time it would take to cross-examine witnesses, was hashed out.
A disputed facts hearing occurs when an accused has pled guilty to a portion or all of the charges but is disputing certain facts in the case.
The charges came after the trio was arrested in June 2020, when more than 60 police officers swarmed Dover as part of a crackdown on the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle club.
Tasmania Police, Australian Federal Police and the National Anti-Gang Squad were all involved in the raid.
At the time of the raid, Tasmania Police said the swoop came after a six-month investigation into the Bandidos.
Mr and Mrs Elniz were initially also charged with drug trafficking, and Mr Elniz – an alleged high-ranking Bandidos member – was charged with a number of other charges including supporting a criminal organisation and making misleading statements about his assets.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions did not proceed with those charges.
Mr and Mrs Elniz are scheduled to appear in court again on Thursday afternoon.
In 2020 Tasmania began enforcing existing laws banning the wearing of insignia of six outlaw motorcycle gangs, including the Bandidos, Outlaws, Devils Henchman, Black Uhlans, Rebels and Nomads.
The police said the gang is on the banned list “have national links to serious and organised crime”, and “links Tasmanian outlaw motorcycle gangs to the manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs, firearms offences and the use and threats of violence to protect their way of life.”
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic the National Bandidos spokesman Grey Norman confirmed to The Mercury that anecdotal reports that the club was expanding in Tasmania, particularly in the northwest of the state, were true.
The Bandidos rose to infamy after the bloody 1984 Father’s Day Massacre in Sydney, which left seven people dead, including 14-year-old bystander Leanne Walters.
eleanor.dejong@news.com.au
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Originally published as Supreme Court hearing to soon begin on Bandidos drug-bust case
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