Victoria Police have raided Comanchero bikie properties across Melbourne
DETECTIVES from Victoria Police’s anti-bikie Taskforce Echo have raided properties linked to the Comancheros in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs.
Police executed search warrants on a series of properties in South Melbourne, Hallam, Hampton Park, Narre Warren, Boronia, Lysterfield and Dewhurst as part of their crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Nitro Gym, which is run by Comanchero Victorian boss Mick Murray, on the Princes Hwy in Hallam was among the properties searched as part of the operation.
Public Order Response officers guarded the gym while detectives scoured the fitness centre just before 10am.
A patron sticks to his workout schedule despite the police raid. Picture: Nicole Garmston
After about 20 minutes, they appeared to emerge empty handed.
No-one was arrested and Mr Murray was nowhere to be seen.
In September, the gym was targeted in a drive-by shooting in what was believed to be an ongoing turf war with rival gang, Hells Angels.
Assistant Commissioner Steve Fontana gives a blow-by-blow look at a massive police raid against the Comacheros bikie gang by 570 officers
Police are yet to reveal details as to what they are looking for or what has sparked the latest raids.
The police presence didn’t deter one gym-goer who continued to press weights while detectives searched around him.
Investigators appeared to emerge mostly empty handed, apart from a computer harddrive.
Police search a property in Lysterfield South. Picture: Lawrence Pinder
The 30-strong contingent of police, including members from the Critical Incident Response Team, then got in their vehicles and headed for their next stop in the blitz: the Comanchero clubhouse around the corner on Melverton Drive.
As police raided the factory, curious workers from neighbouring businesses watched on before three heavily-tattooed men, understood to be associated with the bikie club, arrived at the scene.
A detective briefly spoke with one of the men, not allowing them to enter the clubhouse.
Stuffed animals visible in the garage of the premises at Lysterfield South. Picture: Lawrence Pinder
The men waited in the carpark, making phone calls on their mobiles, before escaping behind the clubhouse’s closed doors once police left.
It comes just a month after police discovered an arsenal of explosive power gel, detonators and cord during raids on 63 Comanchero-linked properties across metropolitan Melbourne.
The police operation, codenamed Crosswings, was the largest simultaneous execution of warrants in Victoria’s history.
Men emerge from a Comanchero club house in Hallam. Picture: Nicole Garmston
That raid came a week after police targeted the Hells Angels Darkside chapter, in which a military style weapon was found.
At the time, police released behind-the-scenes footage of those raids (see above).
Last year, police conducted widespread raids on Hells Angel clubhouses as part of an ongoing investigation into criminal bikie gang activity.
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