Four men – including a senior member of the Nomads Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG) and two associates – have been arrested as part of investigations into public place shootings and assaults on the state's South Coast last year.
About 11pm on Sunday 1 December 2019, officers attended View Street, Batehaven, following reports shots had been fired into the front window of a home. No one was injured.
In a second incident, about 1.40am on Monday 2 December 2019, police were called to the Kings Highway, Nelligen, about 10km north west of Batemans Bay, after reports shots had been fired into a home. No one was injured.
About 2am the same day, in a third incident, three men in a vehicle were approached by another three men – armed with firearms – at the intersection of the Princes Highway and Cranbrook Road, just south of Batemans Bay.
Police will allege one of the men was threatened and hit in the head with the back of a firearm following an altercation between the two groups, who were not known to each other. Three men later attended Batemans Bay Hospital before reporting the incident to police.
Just before 1am on Tuesday 3 December 2019, emergency services were called to Surf Beach Avenue, Surf Beach, following reports of a vehicle fire. The fire was extinguished; however, the Proton sedan was completely destroyed.
Detectives from South Coast Police District commenced initial inquiries into the incidents, which are being treated as targeted and linked, before detectives from the State Crime Command's Criminal Groups Squad took carriage of the investigation under Strike Force Essendene.
During the course of the investigation, detectives received information about alleged drug supply, extortion, assaults, and fraudulent bushfire claims against a charity organisation.
Following extensive investigations, strike force detectives, assisted by Strike Force Raptor, executed two search warrants at Sunshine Bay and Batehaven, and two crime scene warrants at Long Beach and Mogo from 7.30am today (Tuesday 3 March 2020).
Four men – aged 25, 26, 31 and 33 – were arrested during the operation, which is still continuing.
A 45-year-old woman was also arrested after allegedly assaulting a police officer.
Meanwhile, an operation has also been conducted at South Coast Correctional Centre targeting inmates associated with the Nomads OMCG to disrupt further criminal acts.
Investigations are continuing.
