"Soldiers of Islam" Latest Australian Biker Gang

A disturbing article from the Daily Telegraph (AUS) which demonstrates how violent Middle Eastern gangs are spreading from Sydney to Queensland's Gold Coast:

POLICE have discovered pictures of Osama bin Laden at a Gold Coast home linked to a worrying new bikie gang called Soldiers of Islam, whose members include former Iraqi soldiers.

Photos of the fugitive al-Qaeda leader were found recently at the home of a gang member during a criminal investigation.

Soldiers of Islam, also known as Sons of Islam, is believed to be an offshoot of outlaw bikie gang the Bandidos, which has a clubhouse at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast.

Sources say the gang, comprising young Muslim men who sport "SOI'' tattoos, has sprung up on the Glitter Strip relatively recently.

While only small in membership, the gang is coming under increasing attention from police investigating bikie links to crimes involving drugs, guns and violence.

"They are relatively new on the Gold Coast scene but seem to be involving themselves in some scary things,'' a source said.

"They are associated with the Bandidos. Some of the members are ex-Iraqi soldiers with weapons training, so it's quite a worry.''

The Courier-Mail understands that apart from the Bin Laden photos, police did not find any terrorism-related material at the Soldiers of Islam member's house.

Middle Eastern gangs, while active in Sydney, have only recently been making their presence felt in Queensland and particularly on the Gold Coast.

Police have identified bikies from Sydney as being involved in the drive-by shooting murder of Gold Coast father-of-two Omega Ruston outside McDonald's at Burleigh Heads on Australia Day 2008. The case remains unsolved.

One of the Coast's most notorious bikies is Lebanese-born Yassar Bakir, who joined the high-profile Finks gang several years ago.

Bakir was last month convicted of importing GBL, a chemical used to make the powerful drug "fantasy'', and was jailed for six years.

The trial heard Bakir used violence and threats to force another man to import the drug into Australia from China.

Bakir was also charged with the attempted murder of a former professional rugby player, cage fighter and Japanese Yakuza bodyguard, who was pumped with bullets on the Southport Spit in 2006.

However, the charges were dropped after the victim failed to show up to court to testify.

Another Finks bikie of Middle Eastern descent, Richard Savage, received a suspended sentence in 2007 after admitting to a violent rampage at Gold Coast Hospital because of delays in his wife getting haemorrhoid surgery.

The court heard Savage told terrified nurses he was "the king of the Gold Coast'' and threatened to get 30 Finks to "trash the hospital until his wife was operated on''.

I know it's a theme I return to often - but just what are any of these individuals doing in Australia in the first place?

Are they ever likely to make productive citizens in a civilised Western country that's totally alien to them? They've answered that question themselves - they've been given a shot at building a life in a decent country which people are dying to get into, and all they can do is spread the crime and misery they fled in the first place.

What kind of society needs "fomer Iraqi soldiers with weapons training" running around?

Certainly not one that wishes to remain free and safe, I'd imagine. It should be strange that such things are not questioned in the article or by the Australian media generally - but of course, they never are, even if the bare facts make it into the public domain (or simply can't be suppressed any longer).

Australia will treat these people lightly at its peril - or rather, the Australian government will treat them lightly by making it easier and easier for them to immigrate, backed by the media which will never knowingly put two and two together and come up with four - and ordinary Australians will pay the price.