Tribesmen MC gang crackdown: Police disrupt bikie gang’s southern tour

The Tribesmen MC gang have descended on the South Island. Photo / NZME

The notorious Tribesmen MC gang’s southern tour has been targeted by a police sting that has impounded 15 motorbikes and made six arrests.

The Herald first reported on Saturday that gang members had travelled in convoy down from the North Island for a patching ceremony in Christchurch – before continuing further south to the Burt Munro motorcycle rally in Southland.

They have been spotted in various towns and highways across the South Island over the last week, including Christchurch, Queenstown and Invercargill.

But they have been closely monitored by the police the whole time.

Officers stopped the convoy in the early hours of last Friday just north of Christchurch and seized six motorbikes and wrote up a number of tickets.

Police stop gang members in their targeted operation. Photo / NZ Police

And today, police revealed that more bikes have been impounded in the targeted operation.

“Officers have been running several operations following an influx of Tribesmen late last week,” said relieving Assistant Commissioner Investigations Paul Basham today.

“Gang members came from different parts of the North Island, with our operation beginning in Wellington, and then following them as they made their way down to Canterbury and then continuing into the Southland and Otago-Lakes regions.”

The Tribesmen MC gang pad in Christchurch at the weekend. Photo / Kurt Bayer

So far, police say they have impounded 15 motorbikes and two vehicles while suspending 15 licences and made six arrests relating to drug and driving offences.

Basham spoke about it being “a good result” and shows the police’s continued efforts to target “illegal behaviour by gangs”.

New Zealand police launched Operation Cobalt last July to respond to a spike in intimidating behaviour and violence by gangs in the first half of the year.

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

“Our officers across the South Island worked together, sharing intelligence ensuring that those gang members could see loud and clear that we won’t tolerate unruly and dangerous behaviour on our roads,” Basham said today.

“Police are continuing to step up enforcement and disruption of unlawful gang activity across the country as Operation Cobalt continues following great success last year. The public will continue to see search warrants being conducted and arrests being made for identifiable offences.”

He added: “Our message is very clear to gang members and their associates – we will have zero tolerance for any criminal behaviour, whether that be on our roading network, drug activities or violence.”

The Tribesmen formed in Murupara in 1980 and then started other chapters in Ōtara and Northland, before heading south more recently to establish a presence in Christchurch.

A number of patched members have been convicted of serious drug and violence offences, including murder, and the Tribesmen were last year at the centre of a high-profile gang war with the Killer Beez.