Four youths linked to Melbourne's notorious Apex gang to be deported
Apex gang members could be facing deportation after Victoria Police handed over the names of serious criminal offenders to the Australian Border Force.
Some of those allegedly associated with the gang have been included in a list of criminals that meet the requirements for visa cancellations, police say.
The Herald Sun has reported that four of the offenders are linked with the gang, including three people from New Zealand and one from Sudan.
Referrals to the police have already resulted in a number of adult offenders being sent out of the country.
The News Corp paper reports that one of the men has already been deported to New Zealand.
Henry Robati, 19, has been identified by the Herald Sun as the first Apex-linked criminal to allegedly be deported.
He was sent back to New Zealand last April after his visa was cancelled.
The remaining trio in custody have been told their visas have been cancelled and are appealing those cancellations, the Herald Sun reports.
One of the them is allegedly Sudenese national Isaac Gatkouth, 19, who was sentenced last May to 14 months in a youth detention centre over a carjacking in Melbourne's Frankston South the previous November.
He had reportedly been on the drug ice at the time and had not slept for two weeks, the Herald Sun reports.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told the Herald Sun: "Federal authorities will do all they can to assist the Victorian police in countering this violent gang".
The notorious street gang has been identified as being responsible for several violent carjackings and home invasions since 2015, as well as the Moomba riot in Melbourne's CBD last March.
Gatkouth was allegedly in a stolen BMW which rammed a Ford Falcon XR6 in Cranbourne Road.
The BMW was later involved in a car crash which killed mother-of-two Amanda Matheson.
In court, Gatkouth denied he had been an Apex member at the time of the carjacking.
However, prosecutors argued that the other people in the car were Apex members and Gatkouth had a long association with the group.
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The names of child offenders under the age of 18 have also been given over "under exceptional circumstances".
While Victoria Police says the decision to apply for a cancellation of a person's visa "is not taken lightly", they say the referrals pertain to those who have committed serious criminal offences.
Victoria Police declined to provide any more information.
"As this is a confidential process, no further details will be released," they said in statement.
Australian Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg told the Herald Sun the force was working with Victoria Police to cancel visas for those who "engage in gang violence and other criminal activity".
The gang, from Melbourne's south-east, was named after Apex Street in Dandenong North from where several of its founders hail, has been responsible for violent crimes and have been on the police radar for more than a year.
News break - January 19
