AUSTRALIA - Bikie war fears prevail, but colours will stay

OFF THE WIRE
AMID fears of a violent Sydney-style bikie war on the Gold Coast, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has likened bikies wearing their club colours in public to football fans sporting their team jerseys. Speaking after a Gold Coast tattoo shop owned by the Bandidos bikie gxxg was blasted with bullets, Mr Newman ruled out banning bikies from parading their colours in public as the New South Wales Government has done following a spate of bikie-related shootings.
"The team that I lead believe that you shouldn't be sort of penalised for wearing your footy team uniform or jersey," he said.
"Crime is what you should be punished for."
Yesterday's shooting came a day after Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson warned the danger of bikie gxxgs was "underrated" by the community and was "one of the greatest challenges facing police".
The Bandido-owned East Coast Ink tattoo shop was peppered with four bullets about 2.30am yesterday, with one of the projectiles lodging in a neighbouring shop.
Police and underworld sources say the shooting is likely linked to a long-running feud between the Bandidos and Rebels. The feud exploded in a brawl between rival gxxg members at a Surfers Paradise strip club in January.
Sydney-based Rebels bikie Ricky Ciano, who was last month charged over a shooting at a Kings Cross nightclub, was involved.
A Surfers nightclub with which Ciano is associated was later stormed by Bandidos members, one of whom was banned from the party precinct by a Southport magistrate at the request of police.
Sources said the shooting of the tattoo shop could be the latest skirmish between the Bandidos and the Rebels. In May 2010, six bullets were pumped into the Bandidos' Gold Coast clubhouse, two blocks from East Coast Ink.
Various shootings and an arson attack have been blamed on tensions between the two gxxgs.
"They hate each other," one underworld figure said.
He said yesterday's shooting could also be linked to rivalries with the Nomads and Hells Angels bikie gxxgs.
A home owned by the family of a prominent Sydney bikie, who had defected from the Bandidos to the Nomads, was targeted in one of 11 shooting incidents in recent weeks.
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