Police to carry firearms

Christchurch: Police are arming themselves in Canterbury as gang tensions increase.

Canterbury police were yesterday ordered to carry firearms for the second time in a fortnight amid fears of retaliation for the shooting of a gang leader's son.

Members of the gangs are believed to have been involved in a double shooting in Kaiapoi earlier this month.

Police said they were investigating heightened gang activity between the Rebels, Mongrel Mob Aotearoa and the Mongols MC, and the order will be reviewed continually.