Bikie gangs a big threat to our city

TODAY’S front page story on outlaw motorcycle gangs flooding back into the city to infiltrate Townsville’s murky underworld for drug profits should concern everyone.

It’s worrying on two fronts; the obvious threat of violence from bikies trying to muscle their way into Townsville, and the inherent dangers associated with more drugs hitting our streets.

Organised crime elements in the city are nothing new but this push by outriders from gangs out of the southeast corner of the state has the potential to see an influx of violence. It’s their nature. They spruik themselves as clubs for brotherhood and like-minded individuals with a passion for motorcycles. But let’s call a spade a spade, these people are criminals.

They prey on the most vulnerable people in our communities, whether it’s extortion, assault, or pushing drugs, they are after one thing, money.

Townsville cannot afford to let these gangs run riot, we’ve seen what happens when bikies and other underworld elements get the run of a city.

Violence erupts, brawls in restaurant precincts like the Broadbeach bikie brawl in 2013 and the raft of drive-by shootings in Melbourne connected to gangs, terrifying communities.

One only needs to sit in Townsville Magistrate Court for a day to witness what the drugs these gangs are pushing does to our beautiful city. Ice is a scourge on our community, ruining families, dragging people down into holes they may never escape.

And ice is what these gangs are peddling, it's cheap to produce and move around the country, and as our story said today the profits in North Queensland are higher then where these gangs are based in southern Australia.

Our police are building investigations, they’re working to identify these criminals, they kick in doors and charge bikies when they commit crimes.

They need your help, if you see or know something, speak up, you’ll be helping your neighbours, friends and family rid our great city of vermin.