Armed police are searching the South Island headquarters of international bikie gang, the Mongols MC.
Stuff understands dozens of police, including members of the National Organised Crime Group (NOCG), raided The Old Sawmill in Burnham, on the outskirts of Christchurch, and the local president’s Rolleston home, on Monday about 7am.
A police spokesperson said it was too early to comment on what police were looking for or whether any arrests had been made.
The Mongols, led by national president Jim Thacker, established a chapter in the Bay of Plenty last year.
The gang expanded into the South Island earlier this year, creating tension among rival groups, particularly the Tribesmen MC, which was considered the dominant player in the region’s underworld at the time.
In separate attacks in February, believed to be targeted at the Mongols, a tattoo parlour and a barbershop were rammed by vehicles in Christchurch. The barbershop, which has no apparent link to the gang other than through a man who used to associate with the local president, was also firebombed.
The same month, the Mongols’ Burnham headquarters was shot at by someone wielding a high-calibre rifle.
Days later, police raided the property and found 10 guns – military-style semi-automatics, shotguns, and a pistol – some of which were hidden in the walls and ceiling, dozens of bullets, $50,000 cash and methamphetamine.
Another raid in May revealed drugs, firearms and stolen property.
Assistant Commissioner Richard Chambers told Stuff in May, police were recruiting seven staff, including five detectives, for the National Organised Crime Group – the first in the South Island. It is based out of Christchurch and reports to Police National Headquarters.
There are similar units in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga. Their sole focus is to target organised crime.
The group also supports existing organised crime teams in each of the three South Island police districts – Canterbury, Tasman and Southern.
Thacker, 28, a former president of a Bandidos chapter in Queensland, is among hundreds of hardened criminals, known as 501s, deported to New Zealand since 2014 changes to Australian immigration law.
The arrival of the 501s, named after the character section their visas were cancelled under, has radically changed New Zealand’s gang landscape.
New groups, most notably the Comanchero MC and Mongols, have established and, according to police data, gang membership increased nearly 50 per cent in the four years to June last year.
At the end of August last year, the national gang register carried the names of 71 of the 501s.
Police previously said many of the deported gang members were powerful and influential figures in the Australian underworld who brought with them professionalism, a new flashy image and significant international connections.
