Australasian biker news
Schoolies drugs, weapons seized
By Daniel Pace
November 16, 2005
POLICE have seized a huge quantity of
drugs intended for the annual schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast.
Weapons and cash were also found
during early morning raids today on 26 Gold Coast properties, including the
Lone Wolves Outlaw motorcycle gang's clubhouse.
The drugs seized included ecstasy,
marijuana and amphetamines in a joint operation involving Queensland and NSW
police.
Queensland Detective Inspector Jim
Keogh said the gang's primary targets for drug trafficking were schoolies,
with about 50,000 school leavers expected over a two-week period starting on
Friday.
About 150 police from the Gold Coast
southern investigative group, Tweeds Heads and the NSW gang squad were
involved in the raids, which started about 6.15am (AEST).
They arrested 25 people on 60 drugs and weapons related charges.
Two men, from Currumbin, faced Tweeds
Heads Magistrates Court today on drug trafficking charges.
One man was kept in custody while the
other was granted bail.
Det Insp Keogh said police would
remain vigilant about stopping drug supplies to schoolies revellers.
"From a stance of the criminal world,
schoolies (week) can be seen as an area where there is profit to be made and
certainly that appears to be the case," he said.
The Lone Wolves are a chapter of the
Outlaw gang, which originated in NSW but has spread into the Gold Coast.
Police used a metal-cutting device to
prise open the steel-welded doors of the gang's clubhouse in Hayter St,
Currumbin Waters.
No gang members were inside the
building when it was raided.
"There is certainly a market up here
for the Outlaw motorcycle clubs," said Detective Inspector Michael Sheehy
from the NSW police gang squad.
Det Insp Keogh said the police
operation targeting the gangs was an on-going investigation.
"It would be foolhardy to think we're
simply going to close them down in one fell swoop," he said.
"But we're not prepared to tolerate
the infiltration into Queensland of this or any other gang."
Police gathered intelligence on the
Lone Wolves gang over six months of covert investigations before swooping on
southern Gold Coast properties this morning.
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