POLICE have stepped up investigations into criminal activity within the Mount Isa chapter of the Rebels Motorcycle Club and will undertake open surveillance of the clubhouse in Zena Street and Rebels-owned Western Confederate Tattooing on Camooweal Street.
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Surveillance began last Friday afternoon and will continue this week.
The tattoo studio, which is overlooked by the Buffs Club rear deck, was under surveillance by police on Saturday afternoon when it is alleged that an associate of the Rebels directed abuse at police officers from the pub deck.
Mount Isa Police Superintendent Russell Miller said the man was already known to the police as an associate of the club.
The 51-year-old Parkside man has been charged with drunk and disorderly in premises to which a licence relates and entering and remaining in a licensed premises when wearing a club belt buckle.
Superintendent Miller said the man drew attention to himself while police were in the area for surveillance and was subsequently arrested and has been held in police custody since Saturday.
``Our attention would not have been drawn to him otherwise,'' Superintendent Miller said.
``We were openly surveilling the tattoo shop, which is owned by the Rebels and he obviously saw them [police] there at the back of the pub.''
The man is due to appear in the Mount Isa Magistrates Court this morning.
Superintendent Miller said Western Confederate Tattooing on Camooweal Street and a Rebels-owned property on Zena Street would be under surveillance for the foreseeable future.
``There is no indication that we are going to stop doing it at this point,'' he said.
``We will continue to monitor their movements and we will take any action that is required.''
Mount Isa bikies in spotlight
MOTORCYCLE gang members in Mount Isa will continue to feel the pressure as the government steps up the new anti-bikie laws.
The clubhouses and businesses owned by bikie gangs and associates are under the spotlight as the Newman government launches an unprecedented crackdown on illegal motorcycle clubs.
More than 40 clubhouse locations have been listed by the government, from which bikies will be banned under tough laws introduced last week.
The occupants of 1 Zena Street Mount Isa have bowed to the pressure, removing all gang insignia from the property.
In Mount Isa, the Rebels motorcycle gang is known to police, and a crackdown on suspected illegal activity has been in full force for several weeks.
Last weekend the president of the Rebels motorcycle gang and three Mount Isa residents were charged with drug offences after police searched their homes as part of a nationwide sting on criminal motorcycle gangs.
Mount Isa Police Superintendent Russell Miller said the Rebels-owned business Western Confederate Tattooing on Camooweal Street and a Rebels-owned property on Zena Street had been under open surveillance since Friday and would continue to be monitored.