FRUSTRATED police have raised the
stakes in the fight against feuding Hunter bikie gangs
after confirmation authorities will establish
an anti-bikie strike force for the region.
News of the announcement came a
day after another brazen drive-by shooting in Tenambit
on Tuesday night – the same home that had been shot at a
month ago – and the third public shooting in Maitland
this year.
The shootings follow an escalation
in bikie tensions, primarily between the Nomads and
Finks outlaw motorcycle gangs, stemming from a feud that
has simmered for more than a year and spilled out into a
series of tit-for-tat attacks.
READ MORE:
Police storm Nomads’ Islington
clubhouse
Police confirmed Strike Force
Darnay would be made up of highly trained detectives
from across the region, and bolstered with members from
the State Crime Command’s highly successful Strike Force
Raptor.
The focus of the new strike force
would be trained on bringing down those responsible for
the attacks.
“The message I want to get out to
the public is that these are not random shootings – they
are targeted,” Port Stephens/Hunter Detective
Superintendent Craig Jackson said on Wednesday.
“I want to allay any public fears
in relation to that and they will be subject to
investigation.”
Detective Superintendent Jackson
added: “Any public place shooting is a concern for us.
Bullet holes seen in a Gillieston Heights home after a shooting earlier this month. Picture: Simon McCarthy
“Any criminal organisation that is
involved in this will be subject to investigation and
there are a number of inquiries being conducted.
“Some of those will involve outlaw
motorcycle gangs.”
No one was inside the home on
Clarence Street, Tenambit, when it was sprayed with
bullets from a car shortly before 10pm on Tuesday.
The bullet holes had barely been
patched over from when the same house was shot at on
January 17.
Another early-morning shooting
took place at a Gillieston Heights home on February 2.
Last week police landed a blow on
the Newcastle chapter of the Nomads bikie gang after the
NSW Supreme Court declared their Islington clubhouse a
“restricted premises”. The Restricted Premises Act 1943
prevents criminals from gathering at the clubhouse.