Explosives, steroids seized in Comancheros bikie raids

 

 explosives have been uncovered at the home of a Comancheros bikie after police raided two properties in their hunt for a gunman. The raids come after up to five rounds were peppered bullets into a Darch house - where Comancheros bikies live - on Wednesday. Gang Crime Squad detectives today descended on a house in Tangmire Way, Balga where they allegedly discovered 1kg of powergel, an explosive commonly used in the mining industry. Senior police said intelligence suggested the powergel could have had the potential to cause significant damage or even death. ``It's approximately 1kg in weight and could cause extreme damage or loss of life if it was primed and detonated,'' Detective Superintendent Charlie Carver said. A police raid of a gym in Wellman St, Northbridge - which has become the Comacheros' headquarters - allegedly unearthed steroids, including four viles of testosterone and 17 viles of growth hormones. Related Coverage Darch: Bikie war: House, car sprayed with bullets Explosives seized in Bikie raid Bikie war: House, car sprayed with bullets Perth Now, 1 day ago Man faces drug charges after bikie raid Perth Now, 18 Aug 2011 Bikies 'accessing secret police files' Perth Now, 18 Jul 2011 Hells Angel arrested in steroid raids Perth Now, 14 Jul 2011 Bikie 'threatened to shoot victim' Adelaide Now, 8 Jul 2011 No one was at the clubhouse at the time of the raid and police inquiries are continuing into the steroid seizure. Det-Supt Carver said today's action was a direct response to this week's shooting in Darch, but stressed police did not believe the Comancheros were involved in cross-club rivalry. On Wednesday, up to five shots were fired into a house and car in Matlock Heights, Darch, around midnight - fuelling bikie hostilities. The front door and a front window of the house were damaged in a hail of bullets, along with a white car parked in the driveway. Two men and a woman, who police say have links to the Comancheros, were inside the house at the time but were not injured. ``We know that bikies by nature are fighting for drugs, supremacy, territory and monies,'' Det-Supt Carver said. ``They are a fledgling club and they are trying to establish themselves and obviously that causes conflict.'' A 27-year-old Balga man, a Comancheros nominee, has been charged with possessing explosives. No one has been charged over the Darch shooting. The Comancheros, a notorious gang in New South Wales, have been attempting to gain a foothold in WA for 18 months. The gang is renowned for violence, including the brawl at Sydney airport last year which left a Hells Angels associate dead, and the infamous Milperra massacre in 1984 in which seven people were killed. But Det-Supt Carver said police were winning the war on bikies in WA, saying there were nine gangs in WA in 2007 and now there were just six. He said police had all but decimated the Rock Machine and had temporarily dismantled the Finks with five members jailed over the Kwinana Motoplex brawl in October. Comancheros from Sydney and Melbourne have moved to WA to help recruit locals to the gang, he said. In February, police uncovered more than 50 sticks of powergel and detonators during a raid of the Rock Machine's Myaree headquarters.