Five Victorian friends accused of being bikies in Queensland jail

April 2024 · 3 minute read

IT was supposed to be a quintessential Queensland holiday but instead of waking up to sun, surf and sand, five Victorian men are behind bars accused of being bikies and breaching the state's tough new anti-association laws.

The tattooed men arrived with their families last week for a 10-day Gold Coast holiday at the luxurious Hilton Surfers Paradise but while strolling beside the beach to buy ice creams on Friday they were stopped and questioned by police.

Two days later police arrested all five men, alleging they had connections to Victorian chapters of the Hells Angels and the Comancheros.

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Police have alleged former boxer Daniel “Porky” Lovett, 30, is the sergeant-at-arms of the Melbourne chapter of the Hells Angels, while Kresimir Basic, 29, is alleged to be a member and Darren Hayley, 33, a prospect.

It is further alleged Bane Ajajbegovic, 30, and Dario Halolovic, 23 have had associations with the Comancheros.

Each of the men from Dandenong in Melbourne’s south east have been charged with being "participants in criminal organisation being knowingly present in a public place".

Introduced last year, the new offence if proven carries a mandatory minimum penalty of six months to three years behind bars.

Yesterday in the Southport Magistrates Court each man opted not to push for a contested bail hearing before the Chief Magistrate in Brisbane and instead requested the next available court date.

Under Queensland’s new anti-bikie regime the men will now be isolated in special bikie-only maximum security jail units until their families can pull together funds for an expected Supreme Court bail application in the next few weeks.

Solicitor Bill Potts for Ajajabegovic and Halolovic said his clients “vehemently” denied being bikies or associates and would plead not guilty to the charges.

“The law has made a crime out of childhood friends coming to the Gold Coast for a holiday and simply walking down the street," he said.

“Because of an act of friendship, they will now be locked down 23 hours a day in pink jumpsuits with no TV and little reading material and one hours’ exercise.

“This is a harsh, cruel and unusual form of punishment for people presumed to be innocent.”

Solicitor Chris Hannay for Basic, Lovett and Hayley said his clients had been left reeling by the charges.

“They were bewildered and shocked as were their partners and children” he said.

He said they knew of the new Queensland laws but not the specifics.

A woman claiming to be the partner of one of the arrested men refused to give her name but told the waiting media outside court she was disgusted by the group arrest.

“Basically the boys have gone to get the kids ice cream and the police have got them and locked them up,” she said.

“To me I think it’s gross, gross, inhumanity, you wouldn’t even treat dogs like this.”

All five men will return to court on February 17 for a case mention via video link from jail.

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