Walls come down at the Coffin Cheaters' headquarters in Bayswater.
The Coffin Cheaters motorcycle gang has begun removing fortification around their Bayswater headquarters, two days early.
The bikers had been given four weeks to remove heavily-fortified walls after being issued a fortifications removal notice in February.
Today heavy wooden panels were being replaced with see-through security mesh.
The headquarters is the second to be tackled using anti-fortification laws through exceptional powers granted to police by the Corruption and Crime Commission.
WA Police applied to the CCC on the grounds the fortress-style walls surrounding the premises and its structural design were beyond the norm and the headquarters was utilised by a significant number of people reasonably believed to be involved in organised crime.
The owners of the Raleigh Road premises, Cheetah Investments Pty Ltd, were given the chance to respond, which they did through lawyers, and police have since pushed ahead with their demands to remove fortification from the premises.
Although the owners had seven days to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court, they instead brokered a deal with police and are now complying with the conditions set out in the notice.
Assistant Commissioner for Crime, Nick Anticich, previously said Cheetah Investments had until March 25 to modify and remove fortifications to the satisfaction of the Police Commissioner or else they would be altered by police.
A rival gang, the Gypsy Jokers, also had their fortress-style walls pulled down at their Maddington headquarters after their appeal to the High Court failed.
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/clearing-the-way-at-coffin-cheaters-hq-20110323-1c6kr.html?from=watoday_sb
