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Cross-border bikie crackdown nets drugs, guns and cannon

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Guns, drugs, a pill press and a small cannon were seized when police raided clubhouses, brothels, houses and a tattoo parlour linked to outlaw bikie gangs operating near the Queensland-NSW border.

Detective Superintendent Stuart Wilkins from the Tweed Byron Command said police had shutdown all bikie clubhouses in the border region during the 10-day operation.

"As a result of the operation, there are currently no operating outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouses in this command," he told reporters on Friday.

Police raid an Odin's Warriors clubhouse as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border.

Police raid an Odin's Warriors clubhouse as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border. Photo: Supplied

"We are clubhouse free." ( pity we weren't pig free )

Police raided the clubhouses of the Odin's Warriors at Tweed Heads and the Mongols at Chinderah, in northern NSW, taking alcohol, billiard tables and gang paraphernalia at the weekend.

Two brothels and a tattoo parlour associated with the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang on the Gold Coast were also raided.

Police raid a Tweed Heads factory as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border.

Police raid a Tweed Heads factory as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border. Photo: Supplied

Seventeen alleged members of the Odin’s Warriors were at the Tweed Heads clubhouse on Machinery Drive when police stormed the premises last Friday night.

Superintendent Wilkins said police went in ‘‘full-blown’’, expecting confrontation, although there was none.

‘‘They were asked many times ‘Who’s in charge?’ and they just refused to tell us. Whilst we understand we know who they are, they certainly didn’t want to volunteer any information along those lines,’’ he said.

Items seized in a 10-day police operation against outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Items seized in a 10-day police operation against outlaw motorcycle gangs. Photo: Supplied

Police seized 19 shotgun rounds, 150 bottles of alcohol, cash, ticket stubs, bar records and a pool table, as well as Odin’s Warriors paraphernalia.

Officers busted through steel doors to reach the heavily fortified Mongol’s clubhouse at 8pm the following night.

‘‘Police did a good job to get in there very quickly,’’ Superintendent Wilkins said.

Shotgun cartridges seized in northern NSW as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border.

Police raid bikies along Queensland-NSW border

Shotgun cartridges seized in northern NSW as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border. Photo: Supplied

No Mongols were inside the clubhouse, but three members arrived during the raid.

Officers seized a small working cannon, alcohol, bar equipment, furniture and an extensive sound and lighting system at the Mongols clubhouse.

Last Tuesday, search warrants were also executed at properties in Southport on the Gold Coast and Banora Point, Cabarita Beach and Tweed Heads South in NSW.

Police raid an Odin's Warriors clubhouse as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border.

Police raid an Odin's Warriors clubhouse as part of a bikie crackdown on the Queensland-NSW border. Photo: Supplied

A 59-year-old alleged Mongols member was arrested after police seized a pill press, MDMA tablets, cannabis and suspected methylamphetamines from his Southport home.

Police also discovered a .22 calibre pistol, disguised in the form of a reusable lighter, and .22 ammunition.

He was charged with 17 weapons and drug-related offences and granted bail to face Tweed Heads Local Court on April 7.

A 25-year-old alleged member of the Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang was charged after police discovered 64 grams of cocaine, ammunition and small amounts of cannabis, MDMA and steroids at his Cabarita Beach address last Wednesday. He is due face court on March 31.

Two pistols were found at a tattoo parlour on the Gold Coast, while a number of fire safety breaches were recorded at two brothels associated with the Finks.

On Thursday, police wrapped up the major 10-day crackdown, which involved specialist officers from Queensland’s anti-bikie Taskforce Maxima, the NSW Strike Force Raptor and the Australian Federal Police.

‘‘In our language there is no border when it comes to policing gangs,’’ Detective Superintendent Mick Niland of Taskforce Maxima said.

The Southern California-based Mongols moved to the Gold Coast late last year after brokering a deal with the Finks whereby Finks members ‘‘patched over’’ to join to a new ‘‘mega club’’.

Despite concerns about cross-border bikie activity, Superintendent Wilkins said there had been no flood of gang members into NSW as a result of Queensland’s controversial anti-association laws.

‘‘There’s no border when it comes to outlaw motorcycle gangs ... some of them live in Queensland, some of them live in New South Wales, but they haven’t moved en masse to New South Wales because of the laws,’’ he said.

However, news of the operation comes in the same week bikies lodged a challenge in the High Court to the Queensland laws.

The bikies’ challenge was lodged on Thursday by barrister Wayne Baffsky, who successfully overturned similar laws in NSW in 2011.

The legal documents were submitted just hours after the shock resignation of the architect of the laws, Queensland's solicitor-general Walter Sofronoff QC.

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