For the past two months, an elite team of police officers has been honing in on the Illawarra’s feuding bikie gangs, laying dozens of charges and arresting eight people involved in the region’s organised crime underbelly.
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On Sunday, the NSW police force revealed it had set up a full-time arm of it’s elite outlaw motorcycle gang squad Strike Force Raptor, to be known as Raptor South and based in Wollongong.
The new 23-strong arm includes proactive investigators, Operations Support Group (OSG) operatives, Highway Patrol, and intelligence and analytical staff.
Officers will also draw on resources from the National Anti-Gang Squad, including the ATO, Austrac, NSW Crime Commission and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
Raptor South started trial operations in April, when a group of Illawarra criminals were accused of reviving the violent Brothers 4 Life gang and operating a local chapter from inside jail.
Then, police arrested several men over a plot to shoot the Illawarra Finks president, Troy Fornaciari, who was also arrested earlier this year on gun and drug charges.
On Sunday, Southern Region Commander Assistant Commissioner Peter Barrie, said the trial squad had already taken aim at groups who had shown callous disregard for the law and for community safety.
“In just two months, Raptor South arrested eight people, laid more than 40 charges, and conducted almost 20 operations, including FPO searches and search warrants,” he said.
“They’ve also removed tens of thousands of dollars of drugs and illicit cash from the streets, seized various proceeds of crime, and taken almost 20 prohibited weapons, including a firearm, out of the hands of criminals.”
“While we have long enjoyed regular assistance from Strike Force Raptor in targeting members and associates of criminal groups, and their illicit businesses, [a full-time] presence will strengthen our capability to suppress acts of violence and protect the community.”
The establishment of the Illawarra squad comes at the same time as a Newcastle-based Raptor North appointment, which the State Crime Commander acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, said “puts all criminal groups in NSW on notice”.
“From the outset, the goal of Strike Force Raptor has been to disrupt and disable the activities of criminal networks, including OMCG, and remove the romanticism of being in a gang – and we’re doing just that, he said.
“Since 2009, Strike Force Raptor has made more than 4000 arrests across the state and laid almost 10,000 charges for a variety of offences, ranging from the most serious and violent through to traffic and consorting.”
The role and resources of the new teams will be reviewed at six-monthly intervals under the direction of the State Crime and Southern Region Commanders.