Supt Lowe said feeder clubs had their own naming convention and were affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs without wearing their patches or colours.
Bikies can be charged for texting each other under new laws
BIKIES could be charged simply for texting each other under tough new consorting laws, which the state’s new gangs boss says will stop their expansion.
The Queensland Police Service has issued 500 consorting warnings, about 400 of which are pre-emptive.
Gang members do not need to meet to break the new consorting laws.
They could be charged for talking on the phone or emailing or messaging each other.
The move comes as gangs Rock Machine, Mongrel Mob and Satudarah try to get a foothold in the southeast.
Feeder groups such as the 36ers and Villains are also trying to recruit after tough laws pushed bikies underground.
The Bandidos and Rebels remain the two largest gangs in Queensland.
Organised Crime Gangs Group Commander Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe said the preventive strategy used by police was having an effect.
“Where we identify a potential criminal network where persons are identified as recognised offenders under the legislation we will act and we will give them official pre-emptive consorting warning notices,” he said.
Under the new laws, a person can be charged if they consort with two or more convicted offenders on two or more occasions after one warning. However, no consorting charges have so far been laid against bikies.
“Our investigations and our intelligence suggest we’re having an effect,” Supt Lowe said. “Where we’ve seen groups or criminal networks that would regularly meet, we are seeing that not being the case now.”
Supt Lowe said feeder clubs had their own naming convention and were affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs without wearing their patches or colours.
Young men were being “groomed” to join the outlaw gangs and were usually recruited from drug-trafficking networks or involved in armed robberies or petty offences.
“We are seeing a lot of recruiting coming through from younger people who have this television-influenced gangster mentality,” Supt Lowe said.
Despite a change in laws, including the banning of colours, which had pushed bikies underground, drug and firearms trafficking, violence and extortion were still the types of offences committed by the gangs, Supt Lowe said.
The biggest challenge for police was ice and cocaine being imported into Queensland.
Different laws across Australia for bikies meant Queensland police were sworn in as officers in different states to conduct surveillance and help police events where bikies rode in colours.
Officers were in Tasmania during national Bandidos and Rebels runs last year, and said they identified new gang members from Queensland.
There are about 720 outlaw motorcycle gang members in Queensland, which has remained static, and about 185 people who have disassociated since a crackdown on bikies.
There are 126 full-time staff in the new gangs squad, which absorbed bikie-busting group Taskforce Maxima.
The group includes the protracted unit, major and organised crime squads, Maxima (tactical), criminal economy unit and National Anti-Gangs Squad, which involves the Australian Taxation Office, Australian Federal Police and QPS working together.
Supt Lowe said OMCG were “without a doubt” the most obvious, prolific and violent criminals, however, his group also targeted Middle Eastern crime.
Police spent a great deal of their work monitoring who was joining or being targeted by gangs for recruitment.
“Certainly similar to NSW and Victoria we are seeing the emergence of other types of gangs and groups establishing, such as (Netherlands-based) Satudarah, the Villains, the 36ers, these fringe groups that develop that become feeder groups,” Supt Lowe said.
The Rock Machine established in Queensland about a year ago and was of Canadian origin, Supt Lowe said.
Supt Lowe said gangs did not necessarily ride bikes or use clubhouses.
“You can’t ride in your colours, you can’t wear colours, you can’t wear clothing, you can’t wear insignia, you can’t have a clubhouse and you certainly can’t ride in any sort of formation because you’d be likely to be committing a habitual consorting offence,” he said.
Bikies can now be charged for texting
BIKIES could be charged simply for texting each other under tough new consorting laws, which the state’s new gangs boss says will stop their expansion.
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