Police have arrested 15 people and expect to arrest more
after they crashed a bulldozer through the front entrance of
a Red Devils' gang house in Nelson this morning as part of a
nationwide operation targeting gangs.
Police raided about 20 properties in Nelson, Tasman and
Marlborough, seizing vehicles, firearms, explosive devices
and possibly drugs as part of 18-month-long Operation
Explorer, one of the deepest gang infiltrations in the
history of the police under cover programme.
The operation, involving 240 staff, including the
heavily-armed Special Tactics Group, specialist search teams,
armed offenders squads and the army bomb squad, police said
in a statement today.
Two properties were also raided in Auckland, including the
headquarters of the Hells Angels in Mt Eden.
Fifteen people were arrested this morning, and police expect
this number to rise throughout the day as they mopped up the
operation.
It was a "moving feast" as a lot of police were still on the
ground, a spokeswoman said.
Details of the final number of arrests and charges were not
yet available.
Police this morning said the Red Devils were a puppet gang
for the Hells Angels, a prominent global motorcycle gang.
The operation had confirmed the gang's relationship with the
Hells Angels and that its primary focus was organised crime,
Superintendent Gary Knowles said.
"We never thought for a moment these were just good old boys
on motorbikes, despite what their supporters and legal
representatives tried to present them as," Mr Knowles said.
Police will reveal some of the results of the raids this
afternoon in Nelson.
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