DETECTIVES have been granted extra time to gather evidence against several alleged members and associates of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang.
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Two of the alleged ringleaders in the group accused of supplying methamphetamine, Brent Douglas Murray and Mark Jeffrey Hicks, remain behind bars, facing a string of charges following their arrest in March in Tamworth.
Neither of the men chose to appear via video link in Tamworth Local Court on Tuesday morning, when their cases were briefly mentioned.
The pair were part of a string of arrests executed in early-morning raids on Tamworth, Westdale and Nundle homes as part of Strike Force Mewburn, launched in 2014 to home in on the illegal sale of dangerous drugs in the Tamworth area.
Murray was believed to be the president of the Rebels Tamworth chapter of the outlaw gang when he was charged.
He is accused of manufacturing, supplying and selling illegal drugs, and dealing with the proceeds of crime, and he has admitted to threatening serious harm to a person over the phone.
Hicks faces two counts of supplying a commercial quantity of drugs, three counts of supplying on an ongoing basis – a charge which carries up to 20 years in prison if convicted, and recruiting his partner, Shannara Elyce Kelly, to assist in carrying out criminal activity.
Vincent Maxwell Duffy, Bradley James O’Connor, Craig Leigh O’Brien, Shane O’Brien, Gregory Alan McBride, Shannara Kelly and Darren James Dunn also appeared in Tamworth Local Court on Tuesday.
They face a combined 16 charges relating to the alleged supply of illegal drugs, hindering an investigation or dealing with the alleged proceeds of crime.
The accused are yet to enter pleas to the charges, but detectives attached to the strike force were in court as the proceedings were briefly mentioned.
Magistrate Michael Holmes granted the DPP’s application for further time to compile the brief of evidence against the accused.
The cases will return to court in July.
Hicks and Murray made no bid for bail and were refused. Kelly and Craig O’Brien had their bail conditions varied.
The strike force swooped in March after eight months of investigations.
Police arrested several alleged dealers and stripped the Rebels OMCG Clubhouse bare of its contents.
