Rebel bikie linked to rocket launcher theft

The Australian
Natalie O'Brien
January 09, 2007

POLICE investigating an alleged terrorist plot using stolen Australian army rocket launchers hope to arrest more suspects, including a member of Australia's biggest outlaw motorcycle gang.
The Rebels bikie from Sydney's southwest is one of several people suspected of playing a part in a stolen weapons trail leading to alleged Sydney arms dealer Taha Abdulrahman and his clients - one of whom is a terror suspect.

It is believed that police are getting closer to a number of further arrests in connection with the illegal sale of the anti-tank weapons, which police allege were intended to be used to attack targets including the American Express headquarters in Sydney.

Mr Abdulrahman, 28, was arrested and charged on Friday with 17 offences, including unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon and unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon. The charges relate to five shoulder-mounted, anti-tank rocket launchers among seven allegedly stolen from the army. Police have recovered one of the launchers after cutting a deal with Sydney underworld figure Adnan Darwiche, who is serving a double life sentence for murder.

It has been revealed that the Darwiche family, which was caught up in a string of shootings in western Sydney stemming from a feud with the rival Razzak family, had access to some of the rocket launchers.

Five of the stolen rocket launchers are believed to have been sold to a Sydney man who is now facing terrorism charges.

Community sources have told The Australian that a member of one Middle Eastern crime family has privately boasted of possession of at least one rocket launcher.

Police said last week that Mr Abdulrahman had no immediate connections to the Australian Defence Force and that no ADF members were said to be under investigation at this point. But the focus of the police investigation is now on how the weapons were moved from the army to the Rebels, Mr Abdulrahman and then into the hands of a potential terrorist cell.

The AFP yesterday declined to comment.

But NSW Police Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism Nick Kaldas said the arrest last week of Mr Abdulrahman was "one phase of the operation".

"It is by no means the end of the investigation. A number of significant lines of inquiry are being actively pursued and that effort will be sustained until the matter is resolved," Mr Kaldas said.

Mr Abdulrahman is accused of knowing several of the 23 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in late 2005 during the nation's biggest counter-terrorism sweep, known as Operation Pendennis.

But how he may be allegedly linked to the Rebels bikie gang is still being investigated.

In recent years there has been a rise in the number of Middle Eastern Australians joining motorcycle gangs, but experts say they have been mainly swelling the ranks of rival clubs, such as the Nomads.

Former federal agent turned academic Michael Kennedy said the links between the Rebels and the Middle Eastern community in southwest Sydney were likely to be more entrepreneurial.

Dr Kennedy said the Rebels members would know "someone" who would know someone else who could move the weapons on the black market.

Last week, police said they would allege one of the 66mm portable rocket launchers was destined to be fired at a Sydney target.

Australia's only nuclear reactor and the Australian headquarters of American Express in Sydney were touted as among the likely targets for Mr Adbulrahman's alleged terrorist clients.

The country's intelligence and spy agencies are conducting a nationwide audit of the defence forces' weapons and munitions stocks.

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