Serious gang tensions in two North Island regions – including two incidents were police were shot at – are believed to have been sparked by drugs and an internal power struggle within the Nomads gang.
Rising offending led Police to dramatically expand an existing Gang Conflict Warrant to encompass much of the lower North Island this week, including the Horowhenua and Manawatū regions, and extending into Wairarapa.
The area currently under the warrant includes the city of Palmerston North and the towns of the towns of Levin, Feilding, Dannevirke and Eketahuna.
The warrant gives police sweeping powers to search gang members’ vehicles and to seize firearms, weapons and vehicles.
Before one can be issued, a judge must be satisfied a “gang conflict” exists within the geographical area specified by police.
The warrant was initially introduced in Horowhenua on August 21 after several incidents involving firearms.
On Tuesday it was dramatically expanded after shots were fired at police in two separate incidents in Palmerston North last Sunday and Monday morning.
Police told the Herald members of both the Nomads and Mongrel Mob have been involved in the “dangerous gang activity”.
Police said they have offered to mediate between the rival groups.
A gang source told the Herald the violence came at a time when methamphetamine supply and use was rampant.
At the same time, a leadership “power struggle” was unfolding within the Nomads, they said.
The gang source said some senior members of the Nomads had distanced themselves from the offending.
The Herald understands the internal power struggle could be generational. “Clearly there is a young regime,” the source said.
The Nomads were formed in the late 1970s by notorious gangster Dennis ‘Mossie’ Hines in Horowhenua - the region that remains the gang’s stronghold.
The gang source said he believed the behaviour was heightened by methamphetamine. Gang members both use the Class A drug, and run the illicit trade in the affected regions.
“The common denominator will be [meth],” they said.
The source said Palmerston North had been a scene of some “crazy” gang-related behaviour for “quite some time”.
“Most of the behaviours you see, I would put down to meth; both in terms of disinhibition and the gripe.”
In the 2024 New Zealand Drugs Trend Survey (NZDTS), Manawatū-Whanganui was found to be the third-ranked easiest region in which to obtain methamphetamine.
Almost 11,000 drug users took part in the Massey University survey.
As well as 51% from Manawatū-Whanganui saying the drug was “very easy” to source, it also ranked as the sixth region nationwide in terms of respondents saying they purchased it from a gang member or gang associate.
Alongside Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū-Whanganui also topped the list of areas where respondents said they felt “very unsafe” to walk around their neighbourhood after 11pm.
The survey authors stated: “The latest NZDTS data appears to show strong regional associations between the extent of purchasing of methamphetamine from gangs, gang dominance of methamphetamine markets, higher levels of gang influence, and lower perceptions of public safety”.
Wastewater testing data released by Police in May showed a 90% rise in meth use in Levin, the Horowhenua town 37km south of Palmerston North.
Police Central District commander Superintendent Dion Bennett confirmed the Nomads and Mongrel Mob were the focus of current police work in the region.
Police were looking into “tensions between both gangs and gang members” he said.
“We remain open to mediating between these gangs, but their actions are a risk to the community, a risk to our police, and we’re not going to sit idly by while this dangerous activity plays out,” Bennett said.
The expansion of the Gang Conflict Warrant was approved by the District Court.
“By extending the footprint of the warrant, we’re able to reach gang members across the district, including those who left Levin since 21 August to avoid the attention,” Bennett said.
In May, police in the Eastern district secured a similar warrant after two months of tension – including houses being shot at, gang associates gathering around a home, vehicles being rammed and other acts of violence not officially reported – in Hastings, Napier, Wairoa and Gisborne.
Bennett said police were working to piece together if the offending in Levin and Palmerston North were linked.
In the early hours of both Sunday and Monday mornings, police cars were shot at as officers tried to stop suspicious vehicles in Palmerston North.
A bullet hole was later found in the front of a police car involved in Sunday’s incident.
“No police officer expects to come to work and be shot at as part of their daily routine, and our communities don’t want this stupidly reckless behaviour either,” Bennett said.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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