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Mongrel Mob take over Darwin club strip

NOTORIOUS New Zealand street gang the Mongrel Mob have established a chapter in Darwin and have a visible presence in a Mitchell St nightclub, police claim.

The gang’s chapter was created three months ago by a New Zealand man employed to work for Inpex and has links to the Rebels bikie gang.

Police believe Mongrel Mob members congregate at city night spot Opium, wearing the gang’s colour red during the club’s Red Friday promotions.

The gangsters wear red clothing or a bandana to signify they are part of the Mongrel Mob.

But the owner of the club denied it has any connections with the gang.

Police suspect the chapter’s 20 members have links to the nightclub’s staff, who feature the tattooed gangsters in the nightclub’s social media posts.

The gangsters try to mask their identity but flash gang symbols to the camera.

Sources told the NT News police are aware of four assaults involving Mongrel Mob members which have not been reported to police — one including a brawl with a Hells Angel bikie.

The other assaults have allegedly been on unsuspecting clubbers on a night out.

Opium owner Lenno Savage denied the nightclub had any links to the street gang.

He said the club’s Red Friday promotion was based on an American frat party theme of red plastic refillable cups.

“We are not to know who comes into the club. We don’t allow colours, we don’t allow anything that articulates bikie affiliation,” he said.

“We don’t know what they do in their private lives. We can’t stop them coming in our club if they are from a bikie gang.

“We’re in the crux of the Mitchell St nightclub precinct. Late at night all roads lead to Rome.”

The NT News understands in the weeks before two high profile Rebels bikies were jailed, members of the two gangs were seen socialising in Darwin night spots.

Police said the gang had begun recruiting Darwin members and fear the assaults will continue.

Social media posts show the gangsters posing with firearms and dead animals on a Top End hunting trip and wearing Mongrel Mob vests and insignia.

An Office of Liquor and Gaming spokesman said changes to the liquor licensing laws in 2014 prohibited gang colours, emblems or insignia of outlaw gangs to be worn in licensed venues.

“As this is a liquor licence condition, any licensee not complying with the condition may be penalised for their noncompliance,” he said.

The penalties include fines, suspension of trade or cancellation of licence.

Gangs and Organised Crime Division Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Stringer said police were aware the Mongrel Mob had established a chapter in the Top End.

“We’ve received information that there has been some activity of the Mongrel Mob in Darwin,” he said.

“I’d advise anyone that the Mongrel Mob are a criminal organisation and to not have anything to do with them.”

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