Outlaw Motorcycle Gang “smitten” with Tasmania after weekend’s national run in Devonport

The Bandidos will try to meet the Mayor of Devonport today for a “debrief” about the bikie gang’s national ride at the weekend.

The national spokesman for the Bandidos, who goes by the name Grey Norman, said he would seek out a meeting with Steve Martin to canvass his thoughts on the club’s presence during the run.

The national run, which kicked off Friday morning in Devonport, came under close scrutiny by local and interstate police.

Bandidos started arriving last week ahead of the ride which peaked with about 250 members this weekend.
About 140 were expected to depart aboard the Spirit of Tasmania last night with others leaving via flights over coming days.

Police, who conducted a tight monitoring operation and had liaised with the Bandidos leadership for months before the ride, said there were no major incidents over the weekend. About six Bandidos returned positive drug readings at roadside tests while police received some noise complaint and detected a few minor traffic violations.

Footage of a Bandido coming off his bike at speed has been posted to YouTube and another crash happened at Penguin.
“They stayed in side the parameters set by police who deployed significant resources,” Western Commander Jonathan Higgins said.
“The police operation went to plan.”

The Bandidos said they were pleased with how the run went.
“It’s not cool and staunch to praise the police but at the end of the day we were grateful in the way they assisted us in our motorcade,” Grey Norman said.
“I never heard a harsh word spoken by either side.”

The Bandidos have been based in Devonport since last year and are setting up prospect chapters in Hobart and Launceston. Mr Norman said he knew of no other chapters planned for Tasmania.
“I’m not aware of any expansion strategy but I would like to think it’s possible,” he said.
“A lot of us are absolution smitten with the place and want to come back.”

He wanted to meet Devonport’s mayor in order to open “lines of communication”.
“If there are any opportunities to improve our relationship with the community we will seize the opportunity,” he said,

Tasmania Police regard the Bandidos as an “organised crime gang” which, like other Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, use tactics such as toy runs and charity rides to engineer a cloak of acceptability among the community.

Asked whether the Bandidos were on their best behaviour in Tasmania to enlist a level of community support Mr Norman replied:
“We don’t need to put on any performance to ... this is our how we roll.”


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