Gang's P deadline: Ngaruawahia meth dealers given 24 hours to leave town

The deadline in Ngaruawahia is up but little appears to have shaken the quiet Waikato town at this stage.

While all appears quiet at the Tribal Huks' headquarters.

In town, the streets are busy and people are going about their business.

Around the suburban streets their appears to be no angst or fighting scenes.

The gang's headquarters are set just south of the town centre. But there is yet to be seen any convoys of members heading off on 'visits'.

Earlier, Ngaruawahia shopkeepers were asked to stop selling the small plastic bags used to sell methamphetamine (P) ahead of this evening's deadline for dealers to get out of town.

Many of the Tribal Huks gangs members have been in town all day, as they were this morning due to hand out food to the hungry.

By late morning, they were themselves hungry, grabbing lunch at the local bakery.

However, Huks leader, Pink, has suddenly gone shy of media attention and has declined all media interviews.

He has instead been seen driving round town with his crew yelling out to media that he wouldn't be saying anything further ahead of tonight's 6.30pm deadline.

Pink addressed a community meeting last night saying he's had enough of P dealers in the town and gave them until 6.30pm today to get out or there will be "visits".

However, today neither he nor any of his gang would talk.

When approached by the Herald, Huk members gave a firm "no" when asked for comment.

Other gang members were simply standing around or walking up and down the street.

Ngaruawahia Community House manager Anne Ramsay said she'd known Pink for many years and if there was one thing he was known for - and that was keeping his word.

However, she wasn't too worried about the 6.30pm deadline personally as she was confident she didn't have any dealers in her street.

Senior Sergeant Mike Henwood, Western Waikato Area Prevention Manager, urged people not to take matters of concern into their own hands.

However they wouldn't confirm if they were placing extra resources in the town in regards to tonight's expected activity.

"Methamphetamine is of serious concern to Police, as are all illicit drugs," he said in a statement.

"We urge members of the public to assist us by passing on any relevant information they may have so that it can be properly investigated, and we reinforce people should not take matters into their own hands."

He said police run targeted activity based in response to particular issues in their communities, and prioritise and focus their resources accordingly based on the needs of their local area.

"Police do not condone threats of violence or intimidation.

"Any threatening incident reported to police will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately."

The Tribal Huks have apparently been asking shopkeepers in Ngaruawahia to stop selling plastic bags that P is sold in.

Ramsay - who was at the meeting last night - admitted there probably was a P problem in the town.

"Jamie would be closer to the ground and know more about it than the rest of us," Ramsay said. "And it probably needs to go away but it's not just Ngaruawahia. If you watch the news it's a nationwide problem.

"How you get it out of Ngaruawahia, I suspect that threatening people is not the easiest way to get rid of it or the best way to get rid of it."

She said it was unfortunate that there was still a "no nark" policy in the town so people were unlikely to dob in their neighbours anyway.

"So people can see things but won't tell, so that's not terribly helpful to the community or to the police."

Ramsay said she could tell by the tone of Pink's voice last night that he was serious about going through with his plan.

"You had to hear him at the meeting last night, he was deadly serious about it. He mentioned the 6.30pm several times.

"He is very, very passionate about it and it's something that upsets him so I can see him doing the 'if you're not gone by 6.30 I'll be on your doorstep' which is not good."

The co-organiser of last night's meeting, Sharon Muru, said she and others were quite taken aback when Pink made his announcement.

However, she did support what he was trying to do but she didn't feel the meeting was the right place to do it.

"The police were there so (the issue) sits with them."

As for whether Pink will go through with the threat, she agreed that he was a "man of his word".

"So if he says he's going to do something, he will probably do something. But like I said, that's a matter for police."

Muru, who also knows Pink well, said he has his heart in the right place and the community knew that the Huks had their best interests in mind.

"Would you like to live in a street with a P house up the road? You'd want to do all you can to get that away from your own kids.

"We're safe with those guys around and I think it gives us a bit of piece of mind because sometimes police do delay there response time for whatever reason."