The elite police unit that has single-handedly diminished the presence of bikie gangs is now expanding its operation and turning its attention to Middle Eastern organised crime.
Strike Force Raptor, which was established in 2009 as a means of tackling the growing threat of illegal motorcycle groups, will now also attempt to tackle the drug trade being pedalled by Middle Eastern gangs in Sydney’s southwest, the Daily Telegraph reported.
‘By combining the forces of the two, we’ve really got a fantastic capability to stop violence across all criminal groups,’ Assistant Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.
And while they do operate in the state of NSW the 55 Raptors (pictured) hold the status of deputy across Victoria, Queensland and the ACT – meaning they can wreak havoc on the lives of criminals no matter where they choose to hideout
One such example is when Hells Angels associates rented a boat on the Murray River in Mildura earlier this year. When approached by the Raptors and told to disembark, an idea they were opposed to, the task force decided to fine each gang member for parking their motorcycles on the nature strip, reports the Daily Telegraph
Strike Force Raptor will have to employ different tactics as to identifying and determining people of interest, as the Middle Eastern gangs operate in different techniques.
While bikie gangs wear colours and badges that dictate their allegiance and rank, the Middle Eastern factions do not.
‘There are differences certainly. But we’re focused on the criminality of groups not ethnicity,’ Assistant Commission Lanyon said.
Both, however, are extremely violent groups, which means incidents involving members will be easily distinguished.
The Middle Eastern gangs are also notorious talkers, often outing members of illegal gangs to law enforcement agents.
Detective Chief Inspector David Adney has been operating the Raptors since its inception and is willing to throw any kind of act or law at the gangs in order to correct their behaviour
Strike Force Raptor have single-handedly diminished bikie gang sign ups and pressured leaders into ‘patching out’ of their fearsome clubs.
The group, which was developed eight years ago to be a militarised unit of the NSW Gangs Squad, uses old, long-forgotten legislation to provoke gang members into bowing out of a life of lawlessness – or ‘patching out’ as it is known.
And while they do operate in the state of NSW the 55 Raptors hold the status of deputy across Victoria, Queensland and the ACT – meaning they can wreak havoc on the lives of criminals no matter where they choose to hideout.
One such example is when Hells Angels associates rented a boat on the Murray River in Mildura earlier this year. When approached by the Raptors and told to disembark, an idea they were opposed to, the task force decided to fine each gang member for parking their motorcycles on the nature strip, reports the Daily Telegraph.
These are the kind of infuriatingly easy tactics the Raptors employ to frustrate gangs into a sense of order – particularly when they can’t necessarily charge each one for more serious crimes that have been committed.
The force have disbanded clubhouses using laws from the 1940s to stop the sly-grog trade and even used strange search powers from the 1970s to make surprise house calls legal.
The force have disbanded clubhouses using laws from the 1940s to stop the sly-grog trade and even used strange search powers from the 1970s to make surprise house calls legal
While it may seem like a simple parking fine won’t deter a gang member from a life of crime, the relentless manner in which the Raptors pull them over for forgetting P-plates and refusing to wear helmets makes life very difficult – for them and their families
While it may seem like a simple parking fine won’t deter a gang member from a life of crime, the relentless manner in which the Raptors pull them over for forgetting P-plates and refusing to wear helmets makes life very difficult – for them and their families.
‘Most of these guys are in gangs but they drive trucks on the side and need their licences,’ a Raptor officer involved in the Mildura operation told the Daily Telegraph.
One anonymous ex-bikie said that he was forced to ‘patch out’ after receiving more than 20 ‘surprise house calls’ a month. His children were beginning to grow uncomfortable the neighbours thought he was ‘a bad person.’
Detective Chief Inspector David Adney has been operating the Raptors since its inception and is willing to throw any kind of act or law at the gangs in order to correct their behaviour – an idea likened to ‘helicopter parenting.’
Adney doesn’t believe the Raptors tactics are in any way discriminatory because the groups have chosen to live a life of crime as their ethos.
At present there are seven bikie gangs in NSW alone that are heavily targeted by the force, among them the Rebels, Bandidos, Comanchero and Hells Angels.
In one of the most infamous clashes between the groups the Bandidos and Comanchero fought in a shoot-out in Sydney’s south-west in 1984. The incident in Milperra claimed seven lives – six of them gang members.