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At least 20 people have now been arrested and 85 charges filed following a wide-reaching police sting into the Mongrel Mob in the South.
Police this morning said 20 warrants had been executed this week in Mataura, Gore, Invercargill and Dunedin, and in Hamilton in the North Island.
"All of those arrested have links to the Mongrel Mob, and the most significant charges include attempted murder," Southland Area Commander Inspector Mike Bowman said.
Arrests have been made across Southland, and in Auckland and Hawke’s Bay, as part of Operation Pakari, a Southland-based termination focused on violent offending.
Insp Bowman said inquiries were ongoing and police could not rule out further arrests or charges.
Those arrested had either already appeared in court or were due to appear in Invercargill District Court in coming days, he said.
He said the operation involved a number of connected incidents over several months.
“The first of these incidents was in late January 2022, which spurred further violent offending in the form of drive-by shootings, and violent assaults which left people with critical injuries,” he said.
“I’m really proud of the painstaking work our investigation and frontline teams have done since then, to be able to hold these offenders to account.”
Around 50 staff from across Southland and Southern District assisted with the operation, including the Invercargill and Dunedin-based Armed Offenders Squad, and also North Island-based members of the National Organised Crime Group.