Gang motorbikes seized in night action
Police have stripped Tribesmen gang members of their motorbikes during a night police operation near Christchurch – and advised people living near their city pad to leave for the weekend.
A large contingent of the gang is en route to the annual Burt Munro Challenge motor sport event, which is being held in Southland next week.
Late on Thursday, a group of North Island-based Tribesmen members crossed the Cook Strait on one of the ferries.
As they rode through North Canterbury about 1am yesterday they encountered a police checkpoint.
Six of their motorcycles were impounded and a number of infringement notices were issued during the planned operation, a police spokesperson said.
‘‘Their riding was monitored all the way through Marlborough, and will be whilst in Canterbury and [on] their travels south,’’ they said.
The Tribesmen members are expected to spend the weekend in Christchurch, where the gang has a base in an industrial part of Woolston, before riding south to Invercargill via Queenstown.
A woman who lives nearby said loud bikes rolled up to the pad at 4am yesterday.
She said police, who were in the area yesterday morning, advised her to stay elsewhere over the weekend if she could – instead earplugs are her plan.
She said about 50 people were around the pad yesterday morning and at least 20 motorcycles.
The group had taken over Tanner St by blocking off car parks with cones for their own bikes.
‘‘They’re just allowed to do whatever they like whenever they want . . . everyone’s very frustrated,’’ she said.
The gang members rolled out again about lunchtime.
Police last year launched Operation Cobalt, a nationwide crackdown on gangs.
The behaviour of gang members during group rides and tangi processions has come under scrutiny.
The Tribesmen gang is a significant player in the underworld in the South Island.