Police have arrested key players and seized cash, illegal drugs, houses and motorcycles as a 10-month drug operation targeting the Invercargill-based Road Knights Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.
As part of Operation Crimson, Police conducted 14 search warrants today at residential properties in Invercargill, Alexandra, Roxburgh and the Moa Creek area, seizing property and making a number of arrests.
They also seized $38,000 in cash and large quantities of drugs, including cannabis, BZPs and ecstasy analogues.
Seven houses - five in Invercargill, one in Roxburgh and one in Moa Creek - and two motorbikes were restrained under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009. The sting amounts to hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of property.
A total of 195 charges are being laid in connection to the operation, representing 450 offences.
Police today arrested 17 people on a number of charges, bringing the total number of people arrested during the 10-month operation to 20.
Today's arrests included people aged from 22 to 78 (10 men and seven women). A "large proportion" are linked to the Road Knights.
They were arrested on a variety of Class A, B and C drug dealing charges and possession of firearms and cannabis cultivation charges.
Most will be appearing in the Invercargill District Court today.
Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis said the operation, which was run jointly by the Invercargill and Southern District Police organised crime squads, assisted by the police national asset recovery unit, highlighted the links between organised gangs and drug dealing.
"As part of Operation Crimson police have identified a crime family who are integral to the operation and structure of the Road Knights gang. This is a family who appear to have a made a substantial living from the proceeds of illegal activities.
"Police will continue to be relentless in targeting criminal gangs, which attempt to fly under the radar and cause a significant level of harm in our communities.
"Their ill-gotten gains in the form of huge profits are at the expense of the welfare of our communities, and our young people," he says.
The Road Knights Outlaw Motorcycle Gang is the dominant gang in Invercargill, and has been operating from there since 1986.
As part of Operation Crimson, Police and Customs identified and intercepted 1kg of Pentedrone, an analogue of Ecstasy with a street value in excess of $125,000, in July and August.
A 29-year-old Dunedin man linked to the Road Knights Motorcycle Gang and a 42-year-old man and 50-year-old woman both from Balclutha were arrested and charged in August.
In total, illicit drugs with an estimated street value of $160,000 have been seized during Operation Crimson.
Police have also seized a 22" calibre sawn-off pistol and a high calibre rifle, and three indoor cannabis grows - in excess of 100 plants - were found in Invercargill over the past two months.
