Police have made the first application under anti-fortification laws targeting bikie gangs, with the Hells Angels being ordered to strip their Thomastown clubhouse.
Echo Taskforce members slapped a notice on the Lipton Drive clubhouse of the Hells Angels Nomads chapter on Tuesday afternoon, ordering the removal of steel gates, a high fence, a reinforced door and night vision CCTV cameras.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the application and said others would be made under the legislation, which came into law this month.
The Hells Angels will be able to challenge the application during a Melbourne Magistrates Court hearing on November 28.
The Nomads chapter is considered an enforcement arm of the Hells Angels, and the Thomastown clubhouse has been raided by police several times this year, most recently on October 10.
That raid took place as part of the largest police operation targeting a bikie gang in Victorian history and involved more than 700 officers raiding 60 properties and seizing four guns, about $50,000 cash, drugs and a variety of other weapons and explosives.
On a raid last year, police forced their way into the clubhouse by removing a steel gate with explosives.
Senior gang members are generally given notice by police when a warrant is being executed on a clubhouse before officers force their way in.
Attorney-General Robert Clark said earlier this month that the laws would make it harder for bikies to delay and prevent entry to police.
“If these fortifications can be removed, it will strip a layer of protection that these gangs have,” he said.
The laws appear set to be used far more than in South Australia, where police have been criticised for making applications only twice in nine years since similar legislation was introduced.
