VIPER Taskforce has arrested 10 people and charged them with 31 offences during their first five days of operation targeting serious and organised crime groups in Victoria.
Officers were deployed to various locations from Wednesday, 6 July resulting in the following:
• 272 people were checked;
• 10 people arrested;
• 31 charges issued;
• 85 vehicles intercepted;
• 20 Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) searches undertaken; and
• Three warrants executed.
Examples of key results include the following:
• On 7 July, VIPER Taskforce officers were involved in a series of proactive FPO searches linked to the Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. During a search at a residential property on Domaine Drive, Berwick police located drugs believed to be methylamphetamine and almost $50,000 cash. A 37-year-old man, who is an ex-Comanchero OMCG member, and a 33-year-old woman were both arrested and charged with drug and proceeds of crime offences;
• On 8 July, VIPER Taskforce officers were undertaking patrols in Port Melbourne and intercepted a suspect vehicle where the driver was believed to have connections to organised crime activity. During a search of the car, a quantity of cocaine was located and further search warrants were executed on two residential address where drugs were also located. A 24-year-old man was arrested and charged with traffick drug of dependence and remanded in custody; and
• On 10 July, VIPER Taskforce officers were undertaking proactive patrols in Collingwood targeting weapons offending when they located a stolen vehicle. A 42-year-old man who was wanted by Melbourne Embona Taskforce in relation to a number of armed robberies was arrested and a search of his vehicle uncovered a number of edged weapons. He was charged with armed robbery, theft of motor vehicle and weapons offences and remanded in custody.
Further to this, yesterday VIPER Taskforce officers assisted Echo Taskforce members with a series of warrants across north-west Melbourne where a clandestine laboratory used to manufacture steroids, prescription drugs and MDMA was located.
Four people connected with the Nomads OMCG were arrested, with two women and a man subsequently charged with drug offences.
The VIPER Taskforce is a tactical and investigative unit based within Crime Command focused on preventing, detecting, deterring, disrupting and dismantling the criminal activities of groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, organised crime networks and street gangs.
The taskforce supports the work of specialist investigation units and regional police by providing further resources to assist with investigation tactics and enforcement actions.
It brings together detectives, general duties police, intelligence officers and members of the Public Order Response Team, with support from specialised road policing members, to create a multi-discipline team.
This diverse mix of specialist skills and experience within a single taskforce provides a unique opportunity for police to target all aspects of criminality linked to these groups, their associates and facilitators.
Day to day, their work involves a range of enforcement and prevention actions with the flexibility to be deployed anywhere in the state at short notice.
The VIPER Taskforce also proactively targets known members, associates and facilitators of these groups to ensure police are doing everything possible to create a hostile environment for those involved in this criminality.
Examples of this include firearm prohibition order searches, bail compliance checks, policing of OMCG runs, vehicle checks enforcement, and deployment to events known to host members of serious and organised crime groups.
The VIPER Taskforce commenced duty on Monday, 4 July.
VIPER is an acronym for visibility, intelligence, prevention, enforcement and reassurance.
Anyone with information about serious and organised crime activity is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report to www.crimestoppersvic.com.auExternal Link
Quotes attributable to Detective Inspector Anthony Brown, VIPER Taskforce:
"This has been a solid first week for the taskforce and we've been able to get some really pleasing results. Aside from these, it's also given us a good opportunity to work closely with a number of units across Victoria Police targeting a range of issues in different locations.
"Once of the key attributes of VIPER Taskforce will be the collation of further intelligence in relation to serious and organised crime groups and members, so being out in the field actively engaging with these groups has given us good insight into how we can further target their activities.
"It's also been interesting getting feedback - a lot of people our officers engaged with were aware of VIPER Taskforce and that we will be keeping the pressure on them in relation to their criminality.
"As we've already said, we want to create the most hostile environment for organised crime in Victoria and this week has reinforced the approach we are going to take.
"The initial results have no doubt had an impact on improving community safety, whether that's seizing drugs that could case public harm, removing weapons off the streets, seizing proceeds of crime, or locating outstanding offenders for a range of serious offending.
"This is a promising start for VIPER Taskforce and we will continue to proactively target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime right across the state."
