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Australian bikie gang member exiled after government cancels re-entry visa

Xinhua, May 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

A high-profile Victorian bikie gang member has had his visa revoked by the Australian government on Tuesday, leaving the man stranded on holiday in Thailand.

British-born Daniel Roach, sergeant-at-arms for the Bandidos bikie gang, has not had his Australian residency visa renewed and has been refused re-entry into Australia by immigration officials.

Roach has a family in Geelong in Victoria's south and has hired legal help in an attempt to regain a residency visa to return to Australia.

But the Immigration Department has said it will maintain a tough stance on its decisions to renew or not renew residency visas.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he personally intervened to make sure that a Victorian man with an "association with an outlaw motorcycle gang" had his visa canceled.

"I can confirm that in relation to a high-profile member of an outlaw motorcycle gang, I have taken the decision to cancel the visa in that particular case," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday.

A spokesman for Dutton said Roach's criminal past contributed to the decision not to allow him re-entry in Australia.

"The man is alleged to have had involvement in a range of criminal activities, including drug offenses, through his alleged association with an outlaw motorcycle gang in Victoria," the spokesman told News Corp.

"The male, from Victoria, was outside Australia when the minister personally intervened to refuse a return visa on character grounds."

Dutton said he acted in the best interest of the Australian people, citing other cases where the immigration Department had been forced to cancel visas of criminals seeking re-entry into the country.

"Where I have evidence of people acting against the national interest, or not contributing to Australian society in a way that we would want people to contribute, then we'll act to cancel those visas wherever that's possible," he said.

The Bandidos motorcycle gang is notorious for its involvement in Australian "bikie wars", with members across Australia having been arrested for criminal activities including firearms offenses, drive by shootings, and arson in recent years.

The gang has been active in Australia since the 1980s. Endi