Police in Queenstown have established a specialist gang intelligence unit to combat the growing threat of organised crime in Central Otago.
Inquiries by the Otago Daily Times have revealed. -
- A covert CIB gang intelligence unit has been operating from the resort since January.
- Gang-related activity in the area has arrived with the population explosion across Central Otago in the past few years.
- Police are investigating potential gang links to last week's Cromwell bank robbery.
Otago South CIB head Detective Senior Sergeant Colin Blackie, of Alexandra, said the covert intelligence unit had been operating for the past four months and was responsible for collating information about gang activities across the region.
He confirmed a ‘‘line of inquiry'' linking gang involvement to last Friday's Cromwell bank robbery was being followed.
Snr Sgt Blackie said the Queenstown-based Otago rural gang intelligence officer (GIO) had undertaken a course on organised crime at the police training college in Porirua, before taking up the new role.
Snr Sgt Blackie requested the GIO's identity remain confidential to protect the officer from becoming a gang target.
The Queenstown-based intelligence officer declined to comment when contacted on the specifics of any investigations into organised crime set-ups, in case it alerted gang members to their surveillance.
‘‘Gangs are like a cancer. Any sign of them you want to cut it out immediately,'' the officer said.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Clive Geddes said ‘‘gangs by their very existence bring illegal and unwanted activities into the community, such as drug manufacture, sale of drugs, prostitution and intimidation tactics''.
The officer said a team of four CIB staff were involved in collating information about organised crime links and ‘‘actively following up'' with subsequent investigations into gang-related activity in the area.
About ‘‘four or five'' organised crime investigations had taken place in Queenstown since the gang intelligence unit began operations in January, but ‘‘unfortunately'' these had not resulted in any charges being laid against any groups, or individuals, the GIO said.
Areas of rapid population growth, such as tourist towns like Queenstown, Wanaka, and to a lesser extent the rest of Central Otago, provided good opportunities for gangs to increase their capacity for organised crime.
‘‘We're talking about gang tentacles trying to establish themselves here.
‘‘They don't have a base at this point in time, but we want to make sure we cut anything off as soon as they try it,'' the officer said.
The constant influx of tourists into Queenstown and Wanaka in particular, the transient nature of both towns' growing populations, and a corresponding economic growth provided a steady supply of people for gangs to ‘‘prey on''.
‘‘Like any premier international tourist destinations - they attract a criminal element,'' the officer said.
The job of investigating organised crime across Central Otago was ‘‘not as time-consuming, as it's going to get'', and ‘‘ a substantial body of work'', kept the unit's four members ‘‘gainfully employed''.
Historically, the region had not had a problem with gangs such as the Mongrel Mob, or Black Power, although motorcycle gangs, such as the Headhunters and Road Knights, had well-established presences in the lower South Island, the officer said.
