By Cassandra Morgan in Melbourne

POLICE have arrested almost 160 people as part of a national crackdown on outlaw motorcycle gangs.

A country-wide operation, dubbed Taskforce Morpheus, featured more than 2000 officers homing in on bikie gangs for a week ending Sunday.

They ultimately laid almost 700 charges and seized 43 firearms, along with more than 20 other weapons, 11 vehicles and about $1 million in cash during the operation.

Officers also seized various quantities of different drugs during more than 70 raids across the country.

They executed more than 250 firearm prohibition order compliance searches and served another 15 people with the orders.

“We are dedicated to causing maximum disruption to the transnational serious and organised criminal operations of OMCGs,” national Taskforce Morpheus chair Detective Superintendent Anthony Conway said.

“The success of this week of action should serve as a fresh warning to OMCG members in Australia and those seeking to hideout offshore.

“There is nowhere to run, and there is nowhere to hide.”

As part of the operation, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Tax Office raided NSW homes belonging to an alleged Hells Angels bikie chapter president at Parramatta and an associate at Liverpool on August 2.

They charged a 35-year-old Parramatta man with offences including obtaining property by deception and conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth, while a 27-year-old Liverpool man was arrested after a pistol and ammunition was found at his home.

The bike-focused Raptor Squad led NSW’s Taskforce Morpheus operation and arrested almost 75 people through the week.

In SA, police raided a property allegedly linked to a Comanchero member and seized about 30 kilograms of dry cannabis, 20 cannabis plants, $6000 in cash and weapons.

Queensland Police charged almost 70 people with more than 140 offences through the operation, while in WA, police arrested a man and a woman allegedly involved in a Hells Angels-linked crime syndicate.

Police claim the syndicate attempted to import 850kg of cocaine into Perth in June.

Officers raided the duo’s homes and found about $90,000 in cash hidden in one bathroom cupboard, police alleged.

Victorian police on August 2 seized two rifles, a shotgun, two air rifles, a gel blaster, a silencer, ammunition, a crossbow and steroids from a home in Shepparton as part of the operation.

Taskforce Morpheus is a joint operation between all Australian state and territory police along with the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, NZ Police and several other agencies.