A notorious international bikie gang that is trying to establish a foothold in WA is believed to be on the brink of an internal war after a split in the allegiances of its Perth-based members.
The Weekend West has been told that the feared Satudarah Motorcycle Club, which was founded in the Netherlands three decades ago and has chapters around the globe, has been plagued by internal division in its WA ranks in recent months.
In April, WA Police claimed the gang had not been successful in establishing a WA chapter, despite several bikies in club colours coming to the attention of gang crime officers.
Photographs obtained by The Weekend West show some members wearing colours with Perth printed on them at a national club meeting in Melbourne last year.
Another photograph of gang members in club colours has a Perth city backdrop.
The Facebook page Satudarah MC Perth was created on May 2 and displays messages of support posted by gang members from around the world.
One Perth-based member, who did not want to be identified, claimed the State president travelled to the east coast last year to meet the club’s Australian leadership before starting a WA recruitment drive.
The source said the gang’s WA numbers had grown to about 15 by early this year but internal division over drug use and some members’ thirst for violence had led the chapter to splinter.
“There was a lot of internal problems especially with methamphetamine use,” he said.
“The club just kind of divided in two a little bit and have been at each other’s throats since then.
“The past two months since the split, both sides have been on a massive recruitment drive.
“It is actually getting quite bad to the point where somebody is going to die.”
The Weekend West understands the competing splinter groups are backed by separate sides of a national divide within the gang.
It is believed chapters in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and ACT are aligned, with Queensland and South Australia in anotherfaction.
“The whole country is kind of split in half and it just creates a massive s... fight everywhere,” the source said. “It is all about territory.”
He said rival gang members had been involved in bashings and home invasions targeting each other in recent months, culminating in the WA founder and State president’s partner being bashed at their southern suburbs home in recent weeks.
“There has been numerous times where he has threatened to kill everybody,” the source claimed of the gang’s State president. “After his partner got bashed he has kind of been on the warpath.
“He is very much like instead of an eye for and eye, he’s like an eye for a f...... head. His retaliation always goes over the top.
“The boys he has recruited are exactly like him. They love violence and they will bash people just to prove a point.
“He already declared over a phone call that he wanted war.
“That’s where his mind frame is at. He is very ruthless and he doesn’t forget. He will come after you at some point.”
The gang member described the group as a “brotherhood” and said many of its recruits had joined for the camaraderie but now feared their families could be targeted in the continuing attacks.
He said it was unlikely a peace deal would be struck between the parties.
“There are a lot of people out there who don’t have a lot,” the source said.
“Satudarah is like a family, that’s why we joined. But like every other family, sometimes they split up. It’s when greed and money come in to it that there are problems.
“It is an absolute shame because it started off really well and there wasn’t any problems until a certain point where people started taking sides.
“It has escalated over months and there are that many personal problems and that much hate that people want to kill each other.”
WA Police refused to comment yesterday on the claims of tension between WA-based Satudarah members.
Responding to boasts by the Satudarah’s national president last month that the gang had established a chapter in every State and Territory, a WA Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that Satudarah OMCG have, from time to time, attempted to establish a chapter in Western Australia with several persons wearing Satudarah clothing and paraphernalia coming to the attention of Gang Crime Squad officers.
“At this time, we do not believe that the Satudarah OMCG have established a chapter within WA.
“WA Police will continue to target members of established and emerging OMCG as organised criminal groups that exist to harm our community through the supply of illicit drugs, extortion and other acts of violence.”
Australia - WA.
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