Police and bikies during the raid on Mongols premises in Port Melbourne. Source: News Corp Australia
A MELBOURNE tattoo parlour run by an accused bikie gunman was raided as part of an illegal drugs trade investigation yesterday.
Senior Mongols Mark James Graham, with his facial tattoos on display including bikie tag “1%” under his left eye and the words “carnage” and revenge”, showed no emotion as detectives spoke to him outside the Victim of Ink studio on Bay St, Port Melbourne.
Detectives from the Echo taskforce swooped on the tattoo parlour, which is heavily-linked to the Mongols, just before 9am. However, no drugs were found.
The outlaw motorcycle gang’s clubhouse in nearby Bertie St was also searched, with investigators seizing a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver.
Police stand guard after a raid on a bikie HQ and tattoo parlour in Port Melbourne.
Witnesses told the Herald Sun eight police public response squad cars and four undercover vehicles swamped Bay St outside the tattoo parlour just before 9am.
“I’ve never seen so many police cars in my life,” Richard Blacker, 23, said. “I wasn’t sure what was going on.”
The carpenter said police pounced on a man and woman — believed to be workers at the ink parlour — crossing the road at the nearby traffic lights.
Police at the scene of the raids in Port Melbourne. Picture: Nicole Garmston
“There was no commotion or heavy-handed tactics,” he said. “They were just ushered back to the shop.”
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Police outside tattoo shop Victims of Ink in Bay St Port Melbourne. Picture: Nicole Garmston
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Another witness, who wished not to be named, said he often saw “shady characters” going in and out of the studio.
“There’s always motorcycles lined up out the front,” he said
The scene of the police raid in Port Melbourne.
Six public order response officers formed a guard outside the parlour, while detectives executed the search warrant inside.
Victims of Ink is heavily linked to the Mongols, who have chapters around the world and set up in Melbourne last year.
They recently took over the powerful Finks outlaw motorcycle gang.
Police outside the Victims of Ink tattoo parlour in Port Melbourne.
A Bay St shop owner, who wished to remain anonymous, has lived in the area for five years and said she had seen a rise in bikie activity.
“We’ve been in the area for five years and in the last 12 months, they’ve definitely infiltrated the area,” she said. “You see lots of guys walking past with tattoos. You hear the bikes all the time tearing up and down the street.”
The latest raids come as police vow to continue to crackdown on criminal activity by bikie gangs.
The Mongols, who have chapters around the world, set up in Melbourne last year.
Graham, 28, who was questioned but not arrested yesterday, has emerged as a senior office-bearer with the Victorian chapter.
He was a previous member of the Finks MC, until it was taken over by the Mongols in October.
The heavily-tattooed bikie is on bail for the alleged reckless double shooting at a crowded Gold Coast shopping centre in April 2012.
He was already on bail for weapons, drugs and fraud charges in Victoria when he allegedly fired two shots in the busy shops, wounding rival Bandido bikie Jacques Teamo.
A female shopper, Australian hockey representative Kathy Devitt, was also shot in the crossfire. Both survived their injuries.
Following a month-long nationwide manhunt, Graham was arrested in Melbourne and extradited to Queensland to face charges of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding.
In July last year, magistrate John Costanzo refused to release him, fearing that he could reoffend, despite his family offering a $50,000 cash deposit.
But weeks later, with his case being handed up to the Supreme Court for trial, he was bailed, allowing him to return to his Melbourne home in Keilor.
His pre-trial hearing is set down in Queensland for early May.
He manages the Port Melbourne tattoo parlour — part of a chain of three across Melbourne which are owned by his brother.
The Mongols were due to have a national run in Bankstown, Sydney, this weekend but that has been cancelled.
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