Ex-Titan found in bikie den
A FORMER professionall rugby league player has been nabbed in a police raid of a secret bikie clubhouse disguised as a building and plumbing business.
Christopher Bloomfield, , an ex-Titans under-20s s player, was arrested by chance during the uncovering of a new Hells Angels clubhouse at Ern Harley Drive, Burleigh Heads.
Police found a bar, entertainment equipment, gang signs and artwork, and vestss emblazoned with the logo of outlaw motorcycle club, the Red Devils, a feeder club for r the Hells Angels.
Ice, ecstasy tablets and coocaine worth $15,000 were disis- covered in the bar area.
Bloomfield, also wanted for unlicensed driving, interrupted the police search at the Burleigh clubhouse and was arrested after driving to the address. He faces two counts of unlicensed driving.
The Taskforce Maxima operation started on Thursday afternoon with the raid of a home in Great Hall Drive, Mermaid Beach, where officers discovered steroids. The owner of the property, a 41year-old patched member of the Gold Coast chapter of the Hells Angels, arrived during the search.
Police later took him to the undercover bikie clubhouse at Ern Harley Drive, Burleigh Heads.
Detective Inspector Brendan Smith, of Taskforce Maxima, said police information suggests the Hells Angels had restarted operations from Ern Harley Drive this year.
“We have been receiving information ... that this premises was being operated as an illegal clubhouse,” he said.
“They need to understand unlawful behaviour will not be tolerated and if they continue to offend we will be back.
“The links between ice and violence and property crime are well known, as such, and we will continue to target those involved in its manufacture, distribution and use.”
The 41-year-old man is expected to appear in Southport Magistrates Court today charged with four counts of possession of a dangerous drug.
The former Black Uhlans clubhouse was located about 200m away from the new Hells Angels base.