National Anti Gangs Squad press conference
Channel: SA Police News
Date: 2016-04-15

Minister for Justice Michael Keenan and South Australia Police Minister Peter Malinauskas today announced a dedicated National Anti-Gangs Squad (NAGS) Strike Team for South Australia to tackle outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“Organised crime gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs represent an ongoing criminal threat to our country. They are violent predators who profit from the misery of drug trafficking, drug manufacturing, extortion, prostitution and firearms trafficking,” Mr Keenan said.
The Adelaide-based Strike Team includes officers from the Australian Federal Police and Australian Tax Office working within the South Australia Police. 
This is the fifth Strike Team established nationally by the Commonwealth and follows on from teams launched in Queensland and New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia with liaison officers in other jurisdictions.
“We know for a fact that OMCGs are underworld market drivers in crimes such as drug manufacturing and trafficking, extortion, prostitution and firearms trafficking. But modern technologies are also enabling these criminals to expand their reach globally and inject themselves beyond traditional business models into new markets – increasing the misery being peddled and generating greater proceeds from crime,” Mr Keenan said.
“Australia has become a target for organised criminals from all around the world because Australians are paying top dollar for the misery these crooks peddle like the drug ice. Users are not only bankrolling the gangs that are infiltrating and destroying our communities with their dangerous drugs, but they are ensuring our nation remains a lucrative market for criminal exploitation.
“A NAGS South Australian Liaison Officer position was created in January 2014, resulting in 16 SA Police and nine AFP-led gang-related operations. Today’s announcement commits a further $3.252 million of Commonwealth funding over the next 15 months to expand the scope of work and help rid the community of the menace posed by organised, gang-related crime.
“Our law enforcement agencies are going as hard as they can with all the tools we have provided, but these efforts will always be challenged by OMCGs and their criminal business models. The SA Strike Team will use all of the resources at the disposal of the Commonwealth Government to tackle and destroy organised criminal gangs such as outlaw motorcycle gangs,” Mr Keenan said.
Mr Malinauskas said the new strike team would strengthen law enforcement’s efforts in SA to protect communities from outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“The establishment of the NAGS SA Strike Team will initiate an unprecedented level of cooperation between Australian law enforcement agencies to address gang-related organised crime and outlaw motor cycle gang activity in SA,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“The Strike Teams provide a mechanism for the national coordination of investigations, access to broader Commonwealth capabilities in support of state activity and an enhanced ability to share information and conduct investigations in collaboration with international law enforcement partners.  
“The new Strike Team will work in partnership with the existing SA Police Crime Gangs Task Force to create an intelligence-led approach on the states most notorious gangs,” Mr Malinauskas said.
To date the NAGS Strike Teams successes include more than 1000 offenders arrested on more than 3000 charges and the seizure of 555 illegal guns, $5.4 million in cash, illegal drugs including more than 130 kilograms of methamphetamine and more than $9.8 million has been raised following taxation assessments. The NAGS has also supported international law enforcement partners in the arrest of 25 offenders overseas.
The NAGS is now made up of 91 members nationwide from the AFP and state police forces and also includes officers from the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS), the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP), the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Department of Human Services.
Media contact: 
Emily Broadbent 0400 390 008 or Shannen Wilkinson 0476 820 816 (Minister Keenan)
Spiro Karanikos-Mimis 0401 040 532 (Minister Malinauskas)