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Gold Coast bikie Shane Bowden stalked by rival Mongols gangsters with GPS before his killing

A middle-aged man with tattoos on his arms and black T-shirt and trousers sits on a blue motorcycle.
Shane Bowden was murdered on the Gold Coast in October 2020.(Facebook)

Slain Gold Coast Finks outlaw Shane Bowden was tracked by Mongols bikies in the weeks before his killing, police say.

Gold Coast regional crime coordinator Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith revealed the extent of the organised crime gang’s “sophistication”  and “premeditation”, saying a GPS tracker was installed on Bowden’s car weeks before he was murdered.

“We make no bones that this crime has been committed by the outlaw motorcycle gang, the Mongols,” he said.

Police also released new CCTV, showing two vehicles and two people they believe placed the tracking device on Bowden’s car three weeks before his slaying.

“This is the extent of their sophistication, that they’re using tracking devices and personal surveillance on their victims, so we need to get these people off the streets,” Detective Superintendent Smith said.

“The fact they’ve used it for this purpose clearly shows the sophistication and the planning.”

Stalked before slaying

Police say multiple suspects began “physical and technical surveillance” of the long-time Fink bikie shortly after he was released from hotel quarantine in Queensland last year.

CCTV footage from the unit complex where Bowden was staying showed two people walking towards his black BMW.

Later in the video, one person lies on the ground and places a tracking device on the car, while the other man stands guard.

Detective Superintendent Smith has called on anyone who may know the people in the footage, or who may be depicted in the footage, to come forward to “save your own bacon”.

Cars and reward

Still image of two cars on the motorway
Police say the cars were purchased a week before the murder of Shane Bowden. (Queensland Police Service)

Bowden, 48, had returned from the gym around midnight on October 12 last year before being shot dead by hooded gunmen in the driveway of the property in Cox Road, Pimpama.

Two burnt-out vehicles were found nearby a short time later.

Police released CCTV of separate cars they believe were linked to the killing.

Last week, a $250,000 reward was announced for information relating to Bowden’s slaying.

Detective Superintendent Smith said an indemnity from prosecution would be recommended for any accomplice who was not the person who actually committed the crime, who first provided information to police.

Police also released images of a machine pistol, similar to the one that fatally shot Bowden.

Police said he was shot 19 times with one gun and two times with a shotgun.

A machine pistol lying on a bench
A machine pistol similar to the one police believe was used in Shane Bowden’s murder(Queensland Police Service)

Finks bikie’s criminal past

Bowden was once part of the Finks’ “terror team” and had been jailed over the Gold Coast’s co-called “ballroom blitz” brawl at Royal Pines Resort in 2006, where three people were shot and two stabbed.

The wild brawl broke out at a kickboxing tournament and Bowden was later found guilty of shooting Christopher Hudson over his defection to the rival bikie gang Hells Angels.

After his release, Bowden “patched over” to the Mongols bikies club in 2013.

He had recently re-joined the Finks, having been booted out of the Mongols before returning to the Gold Coast after surviving a reported drive-by shooting in Melbourne in July.

Since Bowden’s killing, a number of people have been named as persons of interest in the case, but no one has yet been charged.

Police believe Bowden’s killing may be related to an internal feud within the Mongols in Victoria.

Shortly before his death, the 48-year-old was fined $750 after pleading guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to one count of breaching Queensland’s border restrictions.

Investigations are continuing and Detective Superintendent Smith says he is confident police will bring the people involved to justice.

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