What are Ngaruawahia gangs up to?
They make sandwiches too.
Tribal Huk, a gang based in Ngaruawahia, the heartland of Maoridom, have been around since the first postwar groups got together and sewed patches on, kickstarting New Zealand’s gang subculture.
The gang the Mongrel Mob couldn’t shift, a group often referred to as ‘‘old school’’ and ‘‘staunch’’, have a reputation for not tolerating certain elements in the Waikato town.
The Huks were already widely known for feeding hungry Waikato school children before last Thursday when gang president Jamie Pink gave dealers of P, or methamphetamine, 24 hours to get out of town. Otherwise they could expect a visit from the gang.
But while Pink and his fellow Huks may have the wellbeing of their town at heart, police representatives and politicians have been issuing dire warnings about the activities of some of the country’s larger gangs.
Ngaruawahia, or ‘‘N-g-a’’, was P free by Saturday morning, a gang source says. The Tribal Huk decommissioned 10 P houses in the small Waikato town from overnight on Friday, according to the source.
It is understood that a P dealer who was selling in the town was
‘‘They are setting themselves up as policemen’’
Greg Newbold
also assaulted on State Highway 1 on Saturday.
One local told Stuff it had been ‘‘bloody heaven’’ since the boys started their patrols around the town. In 2014, the gang made headlines when they started . It turned out the gang had their own farmstead and were doing a good turn for hungry kids attending Waikato schools by making and delivering sandwiches to Hamilton, Ngaruawahia, Huntly and Rangiriri.
Tribal Huk have taken on drug dealers before.
It’s one thing to make sandwiches, though, and another to make threats to drug dealers.
Canterbury University professor of criminology Greg Newbold said good on the gang members for making sandwiches and good on any gang member who goes to work in the community.
But, threatening to bash drug dealers was simply vigilantism, Newbold said ‘‘It’s just thuggish.
‘‘The police need to come down on it
‘‘They’ve [the Huk] just jumped on a fad. They won’t be doing it in 12 months’ time. It will be short-lived.
‘‘It needs to be jumped on by the police.
‘‘They are setting themselves up as policemen. They have no right to enforce the laws.’’