Rebels bikie gang member arrested in Calista

The WA Police Gang Crime Squad has arrested a Rebels motorcycle gang member in Calista following a search for drugs at a home last Thursday.

Police searched the Edmund Way house about 9.30am and will allege that behind false wall panels they found a self-loading 32-calibre Beretta handgun, cash, cannabis and a trafficable quantity of a substance thought to be methamphetamine.

The 42-year-old man is the sole occupant of the property and is facing seven drugs and firearms-related charges, including possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of stolen property.

He is scheduled to appear at the Rockingham Magistrate’s Court on November 29.

The charges came as the Government proposed the toughest organised crime laws in the nation, with outlaw motorcycle gangs now set to face control orders that could ban gang members from associating with each other.

Once a gang is named a declared criminal organisation, members could be targeted by a suite of measures, including police applying to the Supreme Court for control orders to stop them transferring funds to the organisation.

A breach of a control order granted by the Supreme Court could result in up to two years’ jail for the first offence or five years’ jail for subsequent offences.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the Bill had been introduced with the intention of shattering the ‘‘core operations’’ of outlaw motorcycle gangs.