BREAKING: A large number of high-powered firearms and large quantities of drugs and cash have been seized in a massive police operation targeting outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouses and homes of bikies across Victoria.
More than 700 police searched dozens of premises in early-morning raids.
Police have confirmed that major police raids are being conducted at outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouses early on Thursday morning, including the Hells Angels Nomads chapter clubhouse in Thomastown and the Hells Angels headquarters in Fairfield.
Fairfax Radio reported that 700 police were involved in the raids, with 59 premises searched across the state.
Heavily armed members of the Victoria Police Special Operations Group and Echo Taskforce were on the scene at both clubhouses in Fairfield and Thomastown.
Heidelberg Road in Alphington has been closed in both directions between The Boulevard and Chandler Highway due to the Fairfield raid.
Fairfax Radio reported raids were being conducted at homes and other properties at Somerton, Seaford, Knox, St Albans, Berwick, Myrniong and possibly Brooklyn.
There were also unconfirmed radio reports of bikies travelling en masse on Melbourne’s roads, including about 40 Hells Angels bikies seen travelling north on the Hume Freeway at Craigieburn.
Police have torn down signs and pulled down fencing at the Hells Angels clubhouses at Fairfield and Thomastown.
A police spokeswoman said the warrants were part of work being done by Echo Taskforce around recent outlaw motorcycle gang-related incidents and were not part of the new anti-fortification laws introduced on Sunday.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Steve Fontana said police were searching Hell Angels clubhouses – and those of affiliate gangs – as well as homes of bikie gang members for ‘‘high-powered, military style weapons’’ in direct response to a series of gun-related crimes involving outlaw motorcycle groups.
He said police were supported by Customs and Border Control officers and that a ‘‘large number of high-powered weapons as well as drugs and cash’’ had been seized in the raids.
“This is in direct relation to recent firearms activity, these are high-powered weapons we are after, let me be quite clear we are targeting [the Hells Angels] and we make no apologies for that.”
Initial reports indicated a 46-year-old man was arrested at a Hells Angels clubhouse in Fairfield.
Police are using warrants to search both clubhouses and homes across the state, the spokeswoman said.
