Bikies vow to return

Bandidos boss wants to clear the air with Tassie mayor

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

Bandidos national spokesman Grey Norman said he would seek 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 from local and interstate police.

Bandidos started arriving last week ahead of the ride, with the number of bikies peaking at 250 members at the weekend.

About 140 were expected to depart aboard the Spirit of Tasmania last night with others leaving on flights in coming days.

Police, who had conducted a tight monitoring operation and had liaised with the Bandidos leadership for months about the ride, said there were no major incidents at the weekend.

About six Bandidos returned positive drug readings at roadside tests while police received noise complaints and detected a small number of minor traffic violations.

Footage of a Bandidos rider coming off his bike at speed has been posted to YouTube and another crash involving the gang happened at Penguin.

“They stayed inside the parameters set by police, who deployed significant resources,” Tasmania Police Western Commander Jonathan Higgins said. “The police operation went to plan.”

The Bandidos said they were pleased with how the Tasmanian 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 being 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 absolutely smitten with the place and want to come back.”

He said he wanted to meet Devonport’s mayor in order to clear the “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 manufacture a cloak of acceptability among the community.

Asked whether the gang was on its best behaviour in Tasmania to win community support, Mr Norman said: “We don’t need to put on any performance ... this is how we roll.”