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The West Australian: Saturday,March 26,2005.
By Luke Eliot.
Detectives believe the Perth chapter of the Rebels bikie gang has been crushed
after two senior members were convicted of serious drug charges this week.
On wednesday,a District court jury found bikies Raymond James Washer and John Di
Lena,and Di Lena's girlfriend Andrea May Scott,guilty of conspiracy to possess
methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply.They were convicted of
conspiracy to bring 1.96kg of the drug,with a street value of $1 million,to WA.
But the plan came unstuck when the courier they hired to convey the shipment
from Eastern States gang sources to WA was intercepted by NSW police.That
sparked a 14-month covert operation that ended with simultaneous raids on
properties linked to the Rebels in Perth and Busselton in March 2001.
Washer,De Lena and Scott were charged over the conspiracy as a result of the
raids.
Since the raids,led by heavily armed tactical response group officers and former
anti-bikie squad Operation Gallipoli police,the Rebels have shut their Malaga
clubhouse.
The West Australian understands that at the Perth chapter's height,11
patch-wearing Rebel bikies including Washer,the local president,and De
Lena,would frequent the club-house.
Another five members of the Perth chapter were charged and later aquitted of
unrelated crimes,but detectives believe those members have since drifted away
from the gang's fold.Police sources told The West Australian that evidence at
both trials was the final nail in the Rebels' coffin in relation to a Perth
presence.
The evidence revealed bitter internal club rivalry,including one member's bid to
usurp his president.
It is understood that the Rebels still have clubhouses at Naval Base and
Bunbury.
Meanwhile,gang response unit officers have prepared for separate run's involving
WA's major gangs- the Coffin Cheaters,the Club Deroes and the Gypsy Jokers.
About 50 Gypsy Jokers travelled north towards Moora,the Club Deroes headed south
for Quindalup and the Coffin Cheaters-WA's most powerful gang- was still in
Perth late yesterday.
The West Australian understands the Coffin Cheaters will pull out of Broome to
boost efforts in Geraldton.
