Angels they aren't

[3rd degree]

[Bucks5]

[stui magpie]

Vietnam veterans motorcycle club?

[Alec. J. Hidell]

[Alec. J. Hidell]

Bandido blows whistle on bikie culture

A mole from one of Australia's most notorious bikie gangs has blown the whistle on a culture of drug trafficking, gun running and murder, including one man being forced to hang himself and another being tortured to death with a hammer.

Police bungling and a lack of communication between state law agencies and the Australian Crime Commission has undermined investigations into these crimes, according to informer Stevan Utah.


Utah - not his real name - was a member of the Bandidos bikie gang for a decade and turned Australian Crime Commission informer in mid 2004.

He told the Nine Network's Sunday program of at least two murders, the bashing of a woman and a "flogging" which left him fearing for his life.

According to Utah, members of the Bandidos were responsible for:

- The shooting murder of 54-year-old Geelong security guard Earl Neil Mooring, who he said was tortured to death with a hammer in October 2000. Utah said he helped dump Mr Mooring's body in Goulburn, south of Sydney, and he later led ACC investigators to the body's location.

"If you put two sugars in your coffee and just giving it a stir, you don't give it a second thought," Utah said.

"That's what it was like with Earl Mooring - putting sugar in his coffee."

- The murder of a former Bandidos member four years ago, who Utah said was forced to hang himself rather than be beaten to death after a corrupt Queensland Police informant told gang members the Bandido was helping them.

- The beating of a woman, who Utah said was dragged by her hair and kicked while unconscious outside a Bandidos clubhouse on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. She had up to eight broken bones and 184 stitches.

Utah said corrupt police officers would tip off the gang about imminent drug raids.

He said bikie gangs around Australia exploited the fact there was a lack of communication between state police forces, which was why dead bodies were transported across state borders.

Utah blasted the Queensland Police Service (QPS) for refusing to cooperate with the ACC on four occasions due to "pathetic, petty jealousy".

He said the QPS refused an ACC request for permission to send Utah undercover to buy methylamphetamine, after he had been offered the drug by a Bandido member.

Utah said he drew a map outlining the locations of two Bandido drug labs in Queensland but QPS did not raid the premises until six months later.

He said he was forced to flee overseas after a newspaper article tipped off the Bandidos to his role as an informant and was "flogged" by Bandidos members who were trying to kill him.

Utah, who remains overseas, said his requests for help from the ACC had fallen on deaf ears.

"I feel total betrayal," he said.

"Last time I looked, regardless of what anyone thinks of me, I did the right thing and I'm still a citizen of Australia.

"Why wasn't I looked after?"