Lucy Rickard and Aja Styles
watoday.com.au/
Gang crime squad detectives have charged a member of the Rock Machine bikie gang with attempted murder over the shooting of a rival gang member last week.
Rebels president Nick Martin was shot in the elbow outside a Balcatta home about 9.20pm on March 18, while a second bullet was found lodged in a motorbike at the property.
Police allege the 30-year-old Rock Machine member later drove the vehicle used in the shooting to Bicton and set it alight in an attempt to destroy evidence.
Mass police raids on bikie properties
Rebels president Nick Martin was shot in the elbow.
Police believe the shooting is part of an escalating dispute between the two gangs.
The 30-year-old man was charged with attempted murder, wilfully destroying evidence and possessing an unlicensed firearm.
He will remain in custody for at least another two weeks.
In court today, the Magistrate agreed for the man's name to be suppressed.
This morning, police carried out a series of raids on homes of bikies from the feuding motorcycle gangs.
Eight properties were searched by teams of up to eight officers and sniffer dogs, some were armed with battering rams.
"There is no danger to the public. This is a feud between two bikie gangs over drug turf. That's what's it about and that's what it continues to be about," Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said today.
"...They would say it's about honour and respect. This is about drugs.
"We've got bikie gangs moving in on a limited drug distribution market and that's what they are arguing about and of course they would say it's about something else."
In November last year a Bibra Lake tattoo parlour owned by a Rebels bikie gang member was attacked with molotov cocktails.
About a week after the firebombing, a random police stop in Crawley uncovered a cache of high-powered weapons police believed were destined to be used by the feuding gangs. Organised crime Detective Superintendent Charlie Carver said the weapons included semi-automatic and high-powered guns.
In January, a group of men smashed a tattoo parlour in Spearwood and bashed the shop's manager. The tattoo shop was believed to be linked to the Rock Machine motorcycle gang, police said.
Today's raid, like many others carried out in recent months, forms part of a continued crackdown on all motorcycle gangs after tensions boiled over at a Kwinana motorplex Harley Davidson rally last year.
About 20 bikies from the Finks and Coffin Cheaters got into a brawl, causing one Finks member to lose a finger, another to be shot in the leg, while a third received head injuries.
"I made it very clear last Sunday (after the attempted shooting) there'd be significant heat coming from police on the bikie gangs," Mr O'Callaghan said.
"We have several warrants being executed as we speak this morning, you know the anti-fortifications are coming down by tomorrow as well on the Coffin Cheaters premises and we will continue to put pressure on the bikies to disrupt their activity and I make no apologies for that."
He said he will review the changes made to the walls at the Coffin Cheaters' Bayswater headquarters on Raleigh Road after tomorrow.
