Pictures of police officers found in raid on Rebels bikie clubhouse as spying concerns raised
- The Courier-Mail
- January 17, 2014
Deputy Commissioner Brett Pointing said the photos, seemingly drawn from CCTV footage, were not simply bikies recording dealings with police on the advice of their lawyers.
THE INSIDE RAP ON YANDINA FIVE
"From my point of view, it's deeply disturbing to see photographs of my officers being displayed in a makeshift clubhouse," he said.
"Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to take a screen shot … and then to blow them up, superimpose those images on to A4 paper and laminate them and display them within a makeshift clubhouse."
Three accused Rebels arrested face up to three years jail for allegedly visiting a gym together twice in defiance of anti-association laws.
They include the alleged Townsville president, 30, and another man, 31, charged also over weapons and the supply of 1400 steroid tablets.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said the latest evidence of bikies deploying the dark arts of underworld espionage was "outrageous".
Mr Pointing said it was "well known to every police department in the Western world that members of criminal motorcycle gangs conduct surveillance on police".
"It's something we're constantly aware of and concerned about," he said.
An ex-high-ranking officer in the highly secretive police surveillance unit told The Courier-Mail crime gangs had long compiled files on police, their families, homes and even their children's schools.
Police arrested a member of the Rebelsbikie gang in Townsville.
Rebels bikies in colours once knocked on a central Queensland detective's front door and told his family they were "collecting blood" for the Red Cross.
Gangs used electronic bugs, phone taps, CCTV footage, hidden and telescopic cameras, computer hacking, GPS trackers on vehicles, pinging mobile phones, and an "old-fashioned tail to shadow their movements", the ex-officer said.
They also use laser and eavesdropping devices to listen in to conversations.
"Bikies are gathering intelligence on police, firstly to intimidate police, maybe to use it as blackmail, but mostly to put pressure on them and the safety of their families," the ex-officer said.
Mr Leavers, who wants new laws to protect officers from stalking and harassment, said the new laws made police and their families "very real targets".
He said families of officers had been "assaulted'' and "harassed" in a number of incidents after outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organisations collected addresses and personal information, he said.
These are the items police had on display after they arrested three Rebel gang members.
These are the items police had on display after they arrested three Rebel gang members.