Gang squad doubled after 15 minutes of airport mayhem
SMH
Alexandra Smith and Jonathan Dart
March 23, 2009 - 4:50PM
An extra 75 officers will be added to the Police Gang Squad to tackle outlaw bikie gangs after yesterday's airport violence, the Premier Nathan Rees announced today.
The increase more than doubles the size of Strike Force Raptor to 125 officers.
Rees: No airport security concerns
The New South Wales Premier announces an extra 75 officers for the Police Gang Squad after violence at Sydney Airport on Sunday.
Mr Rees made the announcement after a briefing from NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione.
Mr Scipione - who has had two conversations with the Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty today - said he understood the whole incident at Sydney Airport lasted less than 15 minutes.
He said airport security was a serious issue but would not be drawn on whether there were serious lapses in the way the incident was handled yesterday.
Mr Rees said the government was also considering toughening legislation to enable the declaration of prohibited criminal gangs and their members and restricting access of gang members to working in industries identified as high risk. No detail was provided on these industries.
"We are responding swiftly to these recent brazen acts - I will not stand by while these criminals put innocent people at risk,'' Mr Rees said.
Commissioner Keelty says he will review his officers' response to the airport incident in which a 29-year-old man died.
He admitted that police were caught unaware and said that, among the issues to be reviewed, were police numbers at the airport and the quality of police intelligence gathering before the brawl.
Impressed
But he said he has had initial briefings with the police involved and said he was impressed with the time police took to respond to emergency calls.
"The security at Sydney Airport after yesterday's incident ... the first call to triple-0 went in at 1.43pm yesterday afternoon, the first call to the airport police commander came in at 1.46pm and the first police responded at 1.47, one minute later," he said.
"So in terms of response times, it's all within acceptable response times and responsible standards. [NSW Police] Commissioner [Andrew] Scipione and I have spoken about this this morning and last night and the police were there as soon as practicable."
Mr Keelty said he was unaware of media reports that some officers stood by while the brawl unfolded.
"No I haven't [heard of the reports] and we will of course debrief the response yesterday," he said. "But in my discussions with Police Commissioner Scipione this morning we understand the response was appropriate.
"The fact that four arrests were made straight afterwards demonstrates that there was a good exchange of intelligence from the police who were first to arrive on the scene and to those police who took up the investigation."
Mr Keelty said the next step would be to review CCTV footage of the incident.
He said 14 police officers were on duty at Sydney Airport yesterday afternoon, which is consistent with the number recommended under the 2005 Wheeler report into security at Australia's airports.
"There was a full complement of staff at Sydney Airport, remembering that the staff at the airport are Federal Police people, but they are people with state police experience who are seconded to the Federal Police for airport security," he said.
"In terms of numbers at the airport, this has been reviewed three times and you can only have the number of police there that the threat and the risk examined tells you to put there.
"We will have to look at that in light of what happened yesterday, but there was nothing to suggest this was going to happen before it actually occurred, and of course had we known more about this before it actually occurred, there would have been a different type of response."
45-second rule
But international security protocols state that security staff need to be able to get to all areas within 45 seconds, an international security expert said.
"If you can't achieve 45 seconds, there's almost no point even [monitoring the area]," said the expert, who did not wish to be named.
"Terrorist events, if they are going to occur, are going to occur with the speed and the violence that we saw yesterday.
"You don't have time to wait five minutes for a response team to get there."
It had amazed him that a violent brawl resulting in a man's death had occurred at Sydney Airport, presumed to be a relatively secure public area.
"However, I'm not surprised. Australia pays lip service to its security at airports," he said.
He called for more stringent entry requirements for Australian Federal Police and changes to security procedures.
"If we look [at airports] overseas, the security is across the extreme perimeter of the building, prior to the entry, whereas in Australia the security action is only after people check in."
While it may have been difficult to predict a stainless steel bollard would have been used to bludgeon someone, the expert said authorities also had to be more vigilant in ensuring nothing at the airport could be used as a weapon.
Qantas, which operates the T3 check-in terminal where the brawl occurred, expressed shock but said the matter was one for police and that it would not comment further.
It said it was responsible only for screening passengers and that "visitors to the public area of the terminal ... are not screened".
Background
In a turf war, victims will be mown down
by Paul Kent
The Daily Telegraph
February 05, 2009 12:00am
A SCRAP of iron 4m long lay in the middle of Crystal St. The message was clear: it is only a matter of time until an innocent gets killed.
At the 7-Eleven across the road from the Hells Angels' Petersham clubhouse a green 4WD drive remained with its windows blown in.
The driver was paying for petrol when the bomb went off.
Shopfront windows were shattered, debris powdered the road, the awning in front of the clubhouse was splintered at violent angles.
Nobody was killed. Not yesterday, anyway. Tomorrow, who knows? Sydney is in the middle of a bikie war, and it is worse than any of us had thought.
Police are still uncertain who was behind yesterday's bombing - mostly because there are too many candidates to pinpoint one.
It is not as easy as saying the Hells Angels, for example, are at war with the Rebels, so it must have been the Rebels. All the gangs are at war with each other, perhaps prompted because a new gang, called Notorious, has emerged.
In their grab for turf, Notorious has almost certainly sent rival gangs back to old battle lines.
But the police know it is much worse. Within the gangs, chapters are at war with chapters.
Then on top of this there are the ethnic gangs, Lebanese and Asian, who supply and deal drugs and might have had their own point to prove to the Hells Angels yesterday.
Sydney is in fear, and rightfully so.
The Hells Angels have promised retribution for yesterday's bombing. If they know who it was then they are one step ahead of the police, who need help.
Naturally, the Hells Angels are not saying. Certainly revenge will come, and at what cost? For starters, the old rules no longer apply.
Where businesses and homes were once off limits, police fear the modern bikie who behaves as if nothing is sacred.
These police do not have a clue what is happening.
They do not know why it started. And they do not know exactly who is involved - other than to say all of them are.
Yesterday, the outmanned NSW Police picked through the debris hoping to find something that would take them somewhere.
They worked for hours.
Meanwhile Premier Nathan Rees, called to action by a frightened public, responded with silence.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd continued selling insulation for homes.
Bullets are being fired into houses with kids' bikes in the front yard.
The windows were blown out of Crystal Building Supplies next door to the clubhouse.
A sign on the side of the building read: "Reinforcing and building products, Open six days a week."
Must have been the day off.
Behind Sydney's bikie bloodshed: two gangs 'out of control'
SMH
Arjun RamachandranMarch 23, 2009 - 4:31PM
The president of one of two Hells Angels chapters in Sydney was one of the three men "ambushed" by members of the "out of control" Comanchero club at Sydney Airport yesterday, a source close to the bikie community says.
Derek Wainohu, president of the Guildford chapter, has been working to get bikie clubs to resolve their disputes peacefully, the source said.
He was returning from an anniversary party in Melbourne with a fellow Hells Angel and his brother when they were "set upon" by members of the rival club, the source said.
In the ensuing violence, the 29-year-old brother - who was not a Hells Angel member - was killed after he was bashed repeatedly on the head with a metal bollard.
"It was a social thing, an anniversary in Melbourne ... it may have been a membership anniversary for one of the [Hells Angels] members in Melbourne," the source said.
The incident bolstered opinion in the bikie community that the Comanchero and Notorious were "rogue groups" that were not viewed as genuine outlaw motorcycle groups, he said.
"They are out of control. They have a very strong Lebanese presence. They have a very strong leaning towards a much more radical approach," he said.
This "radical approach" was upsetting other clubs as the Government considers tougher legislation against bikie clubs that would allow them to be declared outlaw organisations.
"Because of the situation in South Australia, there has been a very, very strong push to establish a more appropriate methodology to dealing with issues between [clubs]," the source said.
"Derek is the driving force to try and get something in NSW so when there's a problem or disagreement in clubs it's resolved essentially around a boardroom table ... [and] none of this caper seen in Sydney.
"But what we are facing is a small minority of clubs leaning towards violence."
He described Notorious as "out of control" and the Comanchero as "mad dogs" of the outlaw motorcycle club scene.
"They are viewed as gangsters putting colours on their backs as some sort of camouflage [to make people think they are bikies]."
Even worse, the Comancheros were supporting smaller "junior" clubs that carry out acts of violence while wearing the colours of rival clubs including the Bandidos and Hells Angels.
He said senior members of those clubs had even approached senior members of the Lebanese community to try to bring the younger outlaws under control.
"They said: 'These guys are using our colours. Can you pull them into line?' " he said.
The source was not sure of the exact motivation for yesterday's attacks, but suggested Wainohu's views on some issues might have made him a target of the Comanchero.
"Wainohu has been quite parochial in relation to patriotism," he said.
"He's very vocal about the things going on in the Middle East, terrorism coming into Australia ... and on following the Australian way."
He did not anticipate swift retribution, citing the absence of an immediate "hit back" attack after the firebombing of the Hells Angel clubhouse in Petersham last month.
"I think it's the first time very senior members of the Hells Angels have been targeted in this manner. It's a very dangerous thing to do.
"But if retaliation is to occur I think it will be very controlled and measured. I don't think it will come rapidly."
While Hells Angels would have concluded "something has to be done", this could be a number of options that included retaliation or a demand for compensation.
He did not believe bikie clubs would drop their conciliatory approach to resolving disputes as a result of the attack.
"These are very intelligent men with an atypical upbringing.
"Many will be still trying to engage with these clubs and trying to bring about some sort of change."
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