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Turf war between south-east Queensland Mongols and Finks heats up in wake of Shane Bowden’s death

A bitter turf war between the Mongols and Finks bikie gangs is heating up in south-east Queensland, with daylight bashings and a barber shop allegedly firebombed by rival members.

Key points:

  • Police say in court documents they have “credible intelligence” of a current “attack on sight” order between two south-east Queensland clubs
  • Queensland police are narrowing their hunt for the killers of Shane Bowden
  • Police say they are “taking all available actions to keep the community safe from harm”

It comes as police investigate an arson attack on a barber shop on June 5 at a Windaroo shopping centre, south of Brisbane.

The blaze also destroyed a hairdressing salon, chemist and bakery.

Two days later, a brawl between Mongols and Finks erupted at the Gold Coast’s Australia Fair Shopping Centre.

Documents tendered to the Southport Magistrates Court over the incident revealed police have “credible intelligence” of a current “attack on sight” order between both clubs throughout the state’s south-east.

The order relates only to the clubs between Logan and the Queensland border with NSW.

The ABC makes no suggestion that all members or associates of the Mongols and Finks bikie gangs in south-east Queensland or throughout Australia are involved in violent criminal activity or are acting on the “attack on sight” order.

The documents came to light following the arrest of a 30-year-old man who police allege in the documents is a Mongols national-level office bearer.

He was charged with affray, possession of testosterone and steroids after an alleged fight with three rival Finks members on June 7 at Australia Fair.

Security camera footage captured frightened shoppers running from the scene as the man allegedly picked up a chair from a nearby cafe and used it as weapon to beat the Finks members, including a 22-year-old former Gold Coast president.

“If released, police believe the defendant will engage in similar behaviour if encountering rival gang members in public places, endangering himself and the public, destroying property of innocent parties, as he has shown in this instance,” police allege in the document.

The man was granted bail, but subsequently charged with breaching the conditions and re-released.

Rivalry between bikie gangs ‘comes and goes’

Lawyer for the former Gold Coast Finks president involved in the brawl, Chris Hannay, described the alleged incident at Australia Fair as “a simple misunderstanding”, which would be “put into perspective”.

He told the ABC rivalry between bikie gangs “comes and goes”.

“Tensions often flare up from time to time, whether it be over fruit not being ripe or a sandwich not being made with the right fillings,” he told ABC News.

The court documents also show police alleged the continued rivalry between the two gangs led to a “recent arson of a Mongols-owned barber shop at Windaroo”.

Australian lawyer Chris Hannay
Lawyer Chris Hannay says hostility between Gold Coast bikie gangs “comes and goes”.(ABC News: Steve Keen)

ABC News has been told the firebombing came after a younger Finks member allegedly posted an image to social media of a defaced Mongols patch, which bears the gang insignia.

The Finks member claimed he bashed a member of the Mongols and stole part of their colours.

However, ABC News has been told the patch was purchased from an online store and not stolen.

Police also alleged in court documents ongoing “hostility” between the gangs.

“There has been hostility between these criminal organisations since the murder of [Gold Coast] Finks member Shane Bowden in 2020,” the documents obtained by ABC News said.

Police intensify search for Bowden’s killers

A middle-aged man with tattoos on his arms and black T-shirt and trousers sits on a blue motorcycle.
Bikie Shane Bowden was returning from the gym when he was shot in the driveway of his Gold Coast home.(Facebook)

Queensland police have narrowed their hunt for Bowden’s killers, who was shot 21 times by two men in a Pimpama driveway last October.

Investigators searched a property at Wanora, north-west of Ipswich, earlier this week.

Property records show the address is part-owned by a man with links to the Mongols.

A number of other search warrants have been issued around Ipswich and on the Gold Coast, naming persons of interest in the case.

The ABC can reveal detectives have door-knocked all Mongols members and their partners on the Gold Coast in recent weeks, seeking information in relation to Bowden’s murder.

Police tape in the foreground with three police standing together on the street behind
Police taped off Bowden’s street in Pimpama in last year as they investigated his murder.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

The infamous Gold Coast bikie was once part of the Finks’ “Terror Team” – alongside now Mongols Queensland president Nick ‘The Knife’ Forbes.

Bowden was jailed for six years over the Glitter Strip’s wild “ballroom blitz” at Royal Pines Resort in 2006, where three people were shot and two stabbed.

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

All Queensland Finks, except for six members, followed suit to avoid being disbanded under a police launched court action declaring them a criminal organisation.

Just before he was murdered, Bowden had re-joined the Finks.

He returned to the Gold Coast from Melbourne after being booted out of the Mongols on “bad standing” for bashing a fellow member.

He arrived in Queensland with a gunshot wound to his leg after surviving a reported drive-by shooting in Melbourne.

Mongols saw Bowden as a ‘thorn in their side’

Bikies have told ABC News Bowden threatened a violent revenge attack after he was shot in Victoria.

Bikies said the Mongols saw Bowden as a “thorn in their side” and were concerned over his actively recruiting members to the Finks.

Gold Coast regional crime coordinator Detective Superintendent Brendan Smith last week revealed police believe Bowden was killed following unrest between the two gangs.

“Clearly we believe the motive is linked to the victim and the outlaw motorcycle gang the Mongols, whether that’s because he left the club or whether he’s done something in the interim to cause bad blood, but we all know with these gangs, there is no honour among thieves, as they say,” he said.

Police detective standing in front of a police backdrop
Detective Inspector Brendan Smith has said police believe Bowden was killed following unrest between the two gangs.(Source: Gemma Sapwell)

Bikie and police sources said south-east Queensland Mongols members are concerned the Finks were “getting too powerful” between Logan and the Gold Coast, with active recruiting, an expansion of chapters and in particular, the return of senior stalwarts.

The ABC understands the Finks in these areas have grown in such size they now have chapters in the northern part of the Gold Coast, one near the NSW border and Logan.

Police vow to ‘disrupt OMCG criminal activity’

A 2020 Queensland Police report has documented the re-emergence of the Finks on the Gold Coast in 2019, after a six-year absence.

It also revealed the Finks opened a Logan chapter last year and had moved on established members in favour of recruiting local “new blood”.

Organised Crime Gangs Group Acting Superintendent Detective Stephen Tiernan told the ABC the Organised Crime Gangs Group would “continue to disrupt and dismantle OMCG criminal activity, taking all available actions to keep the community safe from harm”.

“Police will not tolerate any form of criminal behaviour and want to make it clear that if you are a member or associate of an OMCG and wish to engage in illegal and violent behaviour, then you can expect to be the subject of intense police scrutiny,” he said.