Operation Cobalt: Police issue 15,000 traffic tickets to gang members in disruption tactic

More than 15,000 traffic infringement notices have been issued to gang members since Operation Cobalt started in July. Photo / Dean Purcell

More than 15,000 traffic tickets have been issued to gang members in the last three months as police reach the halfway mark of a nationwide crackdown.

Operation Cobalt was launched in July to respond to a spike in intimidating behaviour and violence by gangs, particularly the drive-by shootings between the Killer Beez and Tribesmen in Auckland, in the first half of the year.

Since then, the police have seized 199 firearms and laid 12,900 charges in court, as well as confiscating commercial quantities of drugs and large sums of cash.

But it's the Land Transport Safety Act which has been deliberately used as part of a strategy to disrupt gang members, according to the officer in charge of Operation Cobalt, with 15,500 traffic infringement notices issued.

"Infringement notices are anything from speeding tickets, which can be dished out on the side of the road, through to more serious offending which can lead to a court summons; driving while disqualified or sustained loss of traction," said Detective superintendent Dave Lynch.

"They can also give police the ability to impound vehicles for up to 28 days, so we've found the LTSA to be one of the best methods to disrupt gang activity."

Because of how the data was collated, Lynch was unable to give a breakdown of how the infringement notices were issued, or what for.

The senior detective did confirm that Operation Cobalt had targeted specific gang members who had lost their licence, then investigated to find proof they had been driving while disqualified.

"We've found multiple instances of the same person driving different vehicles [while disqualified] and a couple of cases where more than one vehicle has been impounded from a particular gang member."

The nationwide crackdown - which includes a specialist ring-fenced team of 40 staff in Auckland - was intended to finish in December.

Police had yet to decide whether Operation Cobalt would be extended into next year, said Lynch, although he noted that some of the disciplines that had been adopted would likely become standard police practice.

"One example is the policing of gang runs [convoys of motorcycles] or large gang events. Regardless of whether an operation is running, that type of policing is expected from the community as business as usual."

Detective superintendent Dave Lynch is the officer supervising Operation Cobalt. Photo / Brett Phibbs

As well as the disruption tactic of traffic tickets, the Operation Cobalt team in Auckland have made some significant inroads into more of the more influential gangs in the city.

Police have found semi-automatic firearms from Mongols in a Remuera mansion, discovered drugs and cash allegedly belonging to a Head Hunter on bail at a drug rehab centre, as well as a meth lab filled with guns linked to a senior member of the Rebels.

The surge in shootings has also settled down - in particular the conflict between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez - which could be a sign that the increased attention from police has had the desired effect.

"Those public displays of violence simply needed to be met with a very, very strong and focused enforcement response. And really, what this operation was designed to achieve," said Lynch.

The Killer Beez and the Tribesmen were involved in at least 23 shootings in a three-week period earlier in the year, and Lynch said those two gangs would have been the highest priority targets for Operation Cobalt.

As it happened, the formerly aligned gangs called a truce in June and the ceasefire seems to have held.

On top of the Killer Beez and Tribesmen conflict, there have also been ongoing disputes between the Head Hunters and Mongols, as well as the King Cobras and Rebels, in recent years.

All of which led to tit-for-tat shootings and arson of homes and businesses.

"There is always potential for friction to escalate," said Lynch, "and there are three or four disputes that could potentially blow up quite quickly. None of them are resolved".

The escalation in gang tensions has been attributed to establishment of gangs by members who have been deported from Australia as "501s", who have then upset the pecking order with established New Zealand groups.

Nicknamed "501s" after the section of the Australian immigration law used to deport them on character grounds, law enforcement agencies believe these new gangs have a disproportionate influence because of their international connections, sophisticated counter-surveillance tactics, and aggressive approach to use firearms.

A patched Head Hunter charged after cash, drugs and a firearm were found at a North Shore drug rehab centre where the man was bailed. Photo / Supplied