Police have arrested nine people and laid 42 charges in Victoria as part of a national day of action targeting outlaw motorcycle gangs, including the Mongols.
On Wednesday, September 10, police swooped on outlaw motorcycle gang members and their associates for Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) searches and other offences including affray and drugs.
Police conducted 20 FPO searches in suburbs across Melbourne including Hoppers Crossing, Diggers Rest, South Kingsville, Point Cook, South Morang and Craigieburn.
Six of the arrests resulted in charges for an affray linked to an assault in a correctional facility in Lara on 7 December 2024.
Four new FPO’s were also served on outlaw motorcycle gangs members.
A 26-year-old Diggers Rest man was arrested for possessing prescription medications without a prescription.
Echo Taskforce Detective Acting Inspector Ben Oakley said the crackdown shows how serious police are in tracking down outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“OMCGs remain a significant national problem – they’re motivated by profit and greed and infiltrate communities, industry and businesses. We’ll also continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners interstate to target any offending regardless of where it occurs,” he said.
“We also know these members have been involved in violent crimes, which is why we’ll continue working tirelessly and conduct days of action like this to impact their ability to cause further harm.
“This is also about creating greater consequences for these individuals should they come into possession of a firearm – if they want to roll the dice they could be looking at up to 10 years in prison.”
Across the country, police arrested 41 people in total, resulting in 120 charges.
Police also conducted 43 FPO compliance checks, 21 search warrants, seizing two replica firearms, an amount of ammunition, more than 100kg of methamphetamine, 231ml of anabolic steroids, 447 tablets of prescription medication, about $20,000 worth of illicit tobacco and more than $32,000 cash.
