Victoria Police denies its new anti-gang unit will duplicate the role of existing organised crime taskforces or drain resources from other areas as it tries to tackle gun violence after the attempted assassination of ex-Mongol Suleiman ‘Sam’ Abdulrahim.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton announced on Friday that police had launched the Viper taskforce to disrupt and dismantle outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime networks and street gangs.
Patton unveiling the new taskforce.Credit:Paul Jeffers
Victoria Police already has two separate units which target organised crime groups: the Echo taskforce and the armed crime squad.
Patton said Viper officers would complement their efforts and offer up a mobile workforce, allowing police to be deployed anywhere in the state at short notice, giving the force an “on-tap” resource.
The new taskforce comes after a series of shootings in Melbourne in recent weeks, the most prominent being the brazen daylight attack on former Mongols bikie and professional boxer Abdulrahim who was shot multiple times in his car as he left a funeral at Fawkner cemetery on Saturday.
A Mercedes-Benz G-Class four-wheel-drive outside Fawkner police station.Credit:Paul Jeffers
Equally concerning was the subsequent carjacking of a woman and her four-year-old son by the two masked shooters as they made their getaway.
Abdulrahim, known in boxing circles as ‘The Punisher’, drove himself to a nearby police station after being shot in the chest. The shooting of the 30-year-old boxer who departed the Mongols gang earlier this year has prompted fears of retaliation attacks.
Images from a video posted to social media showing one of the masked offenders fleeing.
“Our aim is to smash these individuals and these gangs. We will be doing everything we can,” Patton said.
An Epping home was sprayed with bullets on Wednesday morning, which police have said was not related to the Fawkner shooting. It followed a similar drive-by shooting at a home at Pascoe Vale on June 14.
A screenshot of Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim flipping the bird at his attackers from his hospital bed.
Patton denied he was pressured to establish the new taskforce after the violence in Fawkner and other suburban shootings.
“[There’s] no pressure at all in respect to the shootings,” he said.
The new taskforce, led by former Purana taskforce Detective Inspector Andrew Brown, will re-deploy 80 officers on Monday from units including road policing.
Patton denied suggestions the re-deployment would stretch resources in other areas, saying he was confident the force had enough officers to man the Viper taskforce.
But he acknowledged Victoria’s anti-association laws were yet to be used, with work being done to make them more user-friendly.
Patton said significant resources were being poured into solving the public shooting of Abdulrahim, describing the subsequent carjacking of a mother and child by those responsible as “horrendous”.
“We won’t tolerate that. We’re throwing huge resources at that, I’m very confident we will resolve that,” he said.
Patton said he was unaware of suggestions that an increasing number of outlaw motorcycle gang members were moving to Victoria from other states due to tougher laws elsewhere and believed most of Victoria’s gun violence this year had been perpetrated by members of Middle Eastern organised crime groups.
Viper, an acronym for “visibility, intelligence, prevention, enforcement and reassurance”, was recommended following a 2021 review of Crime Command, he said.
It will target criminal groups through firearm prohibition orders, bail compliance checks, vehicle checks and policing bikie runs and other events frequented by outlaw motorcycle gang members and Middle Eastern crime figures.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Most Viewed in National
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
