Joint ABF/NT Police Media Release: Officers from the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Northern Territory Police have detained a member of the New Zealand Mongrel Mob organised crime gang in Darwin.
The man was taken into custody after a warrant was executed on a residential premises in the suburb of Wanguri yesterday.
The 24 year old New Zealand citizen’s visa had been cancelled under s501(3) of the Migration Act and he will remain in immigration detention until his removal from Australia, which will be facilitated as soon as possible.
Commander of ABF Investigations, Graeme Grosse, said the ABF is committed to protecting the Australian community from those involved in serious criminal activity.
“The ABF maintains a strong focus on working with its law enforcement partners to disrupt the activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs and criminal syndicates by identifying, targeting and cancelling the visas of their members,” Commander Grosse said.
“There are provisions under the Migration Act that allow us to cancel the visas of foreign nationals where they pose a risk to the Australian community, or where they fail the character test through their involvement in criminal activity, including as part of outlaw motorcycle gangs or organised crime gangs.
“Any non-citizen with an extensive criminal history and involvement with a criminal organisation can expect to have their Australian visa cancelled and to be removed from Australia.”
As of 30 September 2019, 248 OMCG members, associates or organised crime figures have had their visas cancelled or refused under the character and general cancellation powers since 11 December 2014.
Detective Senior Sergeant Lee Morgan, Officer In Charge of the Northern Territory Police Force’s Drug and Organised Crime Section, said the Northern Territory Police through its partnerships with federal agencies maintains a strong focus on disrupting the activities of gangs such as the Mongrel Mob and other Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs who wish to establish themselves here in the NT.
“We work closely with our partner agencies including the ABF on a daily basis. The strong partnerships that have been formed through national taskforces such as Taskforce Morpheus has enabled local police to be far more effective when investigating members of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“We have well and truly moved passed the old model of waiting for something to happen and then responding. We now have a multi-jurisdictional task force that pro-actively investigates members of organized crime networks.
“We do not want these people in our communities and we will use the full range of capabilities available to us to disrupt their criminal activities and remove them from our community”.
