Almost 1500 offenders involved in serious and organised crime at all levels across Victoria have been charged by the VIPER Taskforce with more than 2600 offences in its now three years of operation.
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Middle Eastern Organised Crime Groups, youth gangs and those involved in serious and organised crime linked to the illicit tobacco activity have all felt the sting of VIPER's disruption strategies since the taskforce was launched in 2022.
Unveiled on Monday 4 July, 2022, the tactical unit - the first of its kind in Victoria - was launched as Victoria Police's new approach in the fight against criminal entities with the flexibility to be deployed anywhere in the state at short notice.
In that time, the taskforce has conducted regional deployments to almost every corner of the state.
The 80-strong innovative unit combines police from a wide range of specialist roles, including Public Order Response Team (PORT), State Highway Patrol, general duties, intelligence officers and detectives from a wide range of backgrounds, including the Armed Crime Squad, Echo Taskforce, Criminal Proceeds Squad, Illicit Firearms Squad, Vehicle Crime Squad, Major Drug Squad, Clandestine Laboratory Squad, Gang Crime Squad and various others.
Using this diverse mix of specialist skills and experience, VIPER has processed 1422 offenders and issued 2637 charges in its first three years.
Since its inception, VIPER has also:
- Conducted over 1000 Firearm Prohibition Order (FPO) searches and served 70 FPOs;
- Seized more than $5.1M in cash and $3M in gold bullion;
- Made 172 proceeds of crime seizures;
- Seized 190 firearms and imitation firearms, as well as 314 prohibited weapons, including conducted energy devices, knives, swords, knuckle dusters, ASP batons and explosives such as power gel and detonators;
- Undertaken 236 seizures of ammunition and firearm parts including 3D printed firearm equipment and firearm parts;
- Made over 1294 seizures of illicit drugs of varying quantities and types, and
- Intercepted in excess of 636 traffic penalty infringement notices and impounded 122 vehicles.
With the workforce rotating on a regular basis, over 262 members of Victoria Police have now donned the VIPER patch.
Employing the highly diverse range of experience and expertise of members force-wide allows for VIPER to conduct both proactive and reactive investigations, which target organised crime from every possible angle.
Day to day, their work involves a range of enforcement and prevention actions such as proactively targeting known criminals, including those involved in incidents such as homicides, arsons and shootings.
The taskforce also supports the work of specialist investigation units and regional police by providing further resources to assist with investigation tactics and enforcement actions.
Over the past two years VIPER has worked closely with Taskforce Lunar in particular to target the organised crime groups involved in significant and violent criminality linked to the trafficking of illicit tobacco and vapes.
The VIPER Taskforce has worked to proactively target 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.
Critically, the work of the VIPER Taskforce has also contributed enormously to the contemporary intelligence Victoria Police has on organised crime groups and those involved or associated with them.
The unit has worked closely with a range of other state and federal law enforcement agencies such as the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Taxation Office, Sheriff's Office and Therapeutic Goods Administration in order to take advantage of contemporary organised crime intelligence from across the country.
This also includes a number of operations on the Victoria-NSW border working in collaboration with their counterparts at NSW Police' Raptor Squad.
VIPER is an acronym for visibility, intelligence, prevention, enforcement and reassurance.
The taskforce was recommended following the completion of the Crime Command review in 2021. It was the first time Victoria Police has created a taskforce of this nature, which was developed following an examination of similar type models across Australia and internationally.
Notable operations and results from VIPER's first three years of operation include:
- 2023 saw VIPER investigate a series of burglaries throughout Melbourne's northern suburbs. As a result, approximately 2kg of methylamphetamine, $35,000 cash, a rifle with an abundance of ammunition and luxury goods were seized.
- In February, an investigation into Asian organised crime resulted in the seizure of cannabis, methylamphetamine and MDMA, five imitation firearms, $10k in cash and a variety of prohibited weapons.
- February was also a month of action targeting members and associates of the Hells Angels OMCG. 15 FPO searches were conducted, three FPOs were served, and six offenders were processed.
- March saw a cross-border operation in Albury and Wodonga with NSWPF's Raptor Squad. Sixteen FPO compliance searches and ten warrants were executed, firearms, drugs, explosives and stolen goods were seized, and 18 were arrested for a range of criminal and road safety offences.
- In April, eight offenders were arrested and 135kg of cannabis (with a street value of approx. $700k) and over $200k cash were seized following an investigation into Albanian organised crime.
- In May, a search warrant was executed following an investigation into the alleged trafficking of steroids through the mail. A sophisticated clandestine laboratory was located, and in excess of 80kg of liquid, powders, and chemicals (with an estimated street value of $500k) utilised in manufacturing illicit substances were seized.
- 2024 saw VIPER utilising Commonwealth Organised Crime legislation to investigate the widespread illicit tobacco industry operating in Victoria. As a result of this investigation, 27 search warrants were executed across the state. Approximately 400,000 illegal cigarettes, 74kg of loose-leaf tobacco, a large number of illicit vapes, approximately $70,000 in cash, and a number of luxury items believed to be proceeds of crime were seized.
- In October, VIPER arrested three people and seized over $1.5M cash, at least $500,000 worth of luxury handbags, over $3M worth of gold as well as illicit cigarettes as part of an investigation into the supply and distribution of methylamphetamine in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
- In December, VIPER assisted NSWPF's Raptor Squad with a cross-border search. This operation led to the seizure of a large cache of firearms and explosives which were located secreted in two Victorian State Forests. Investigators located several military grade firearms with associated scopes and silencers, a large quantity of ammunition and extensive explosive and improvised explosive devices, including more than 60 manufactured pipe bombs.
- In March 2025, a man was arrested and 27,000 illicit cigarettes, approximately 7kg of illicit loose-leaf tobacco, 646 e-cigarettes and approximately $10,000 cash were seized following a search warrant in Cobram.
- April saw VIPER, along with representatives from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), execute warrants at 12 tobacco stores across Melbourne. 14 offenders were arrested, and 14,593 e-cigarettes, 681,368 cigarettes, over 305kg of loose-leaf tobacco and over $22,500 cash were seized.
- In May, VIPER and NSWPF's Raptor Squad joined forces again. This time, 23 FPO compliance searches and five warrants were executed. Twenty people were arrested and 48 charges laid. Eight firearms were seized, along with a number of drugs, weapons and cash.
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.au
Quotes attributable to Superintendent Craig Darlow:
"VIPER's strong results have been largely driven by the unique mix of specialist skills we have across our investigators and public order response. The unit is a now a fundamental part of the way we tackle serious and organised crime.
"The work the squad has done to disrupt the criminality of groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates, street gangs and more has seen over 1500 people arrested and more than 2600 charges laid.
"We've seen great success working alongside Taskforce Lunar to proactively target organised crime syndicates involved in the sale of illicit tobacco and associated criminality such as extortions and arsons.
"We've also seen a high number of arrests and seizures during regional deployments where we work hand in hand with local police or interstate law enforcement. This has included establishing a close working relationship with NSW Police's Raptor Squad.
"We know that the presence of VIPER in regional areas has led to a change in the mindset of local criminals who previously thought they were out of reach of our specialist police units.
"Our regional police colleagues are now regularly supported by the VIPER Taskforce and other Crime Command squads to disrupt and deter criminal activity.
"The VIPER model is agile and dynamic - it involves the deployment of a broad range of specialist policing units, operating alongside one another to clinically target known criminal groups.
"That is the beauty of VIPER - our policing practitioners will collaborate and identify every opportunity to target criminals through a variety of investigative options."
Maddy McDermott
