\u201cWe executed warrants today, so it\u2019s still happening. We\u2019re just finishing now in that sense,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
The people arrested allegedly had links to the Tribesman and Head Hunters gangs, he said. <\/p>\n
Williams said during the investigation, police allegedly found gangs were getting single mothers addicted to methamphetamine with the intent of turning them into dealers of the drug. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese people understand that through methamphetamine, they basically entrap and enslave people, and then they get them working for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Methamphetamine manufacturing equipment, firearms, ammunition, drugs and cash were recovered by police. <\/p>\n
\u201c[We have recovered] nine firearms so far \u2013 including a loaded pistol found in a backpack in a child\u2019s bedroom at one of the main target\u2019s addresses. So it\u2019s kind of seriously concerning to see that occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the men involved are facing a raft of charges related to the manufacture of methamphetamine, supply of methamphetamine, operating as an organised crime group, and other associated firearms offences. <\/p>\n
The operation would have a \u201csignificant\u201d impact on Kait\u0101ia, as the group targeted was allegedly manufacturing and supplying a large amount of the drug into the area. <\/p>\n
However, Williams said that does not mean methamphetamine consumption will drop. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a long-term game, right. This isn\u2019t just about one-off jobs, but this is significant for this group and the impact they\u2019re having.\u201d <\/p>\n
Police yesterday executed search warrants across Northland and Auckland as part of the investigation. <\/p>\n
The National Organised Crime Group has been leading the investigation with help from Northland Police.<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s co-ordinated raids were described as \u201ca large-scale termination\u201d.<\/p>\n
Details were scarce while enforcement action was underway. <\/p>\n
The ages of the men arrested vary between 27 and 61 years old. <\/p>\n
Northland District Commander, Superintendent Matt Srhoj, welcomed the results of the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week\u2019s results have been nearly a year in the making, and I know this will go a long way to making a dent in this operation that has been making profit off our vulnerable communities in the Far North,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe executed warrants today, so it\u2019s still happening. We\u2019re just finishing now in that sense,\u201d Williams said. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[135517,7818,6726,2741,27645,3401,63975,8455,42,1868,13240,30510,43,1067,17286,57694,675,58218,17902,2846,61,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-471233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-addicted","tag-allegedly","tag-become","tag-claim","tag-dealers","tag-drug","tag-gangs","tag-getting","tag-headlines","tag-meth","tag-methamphetamine","tag-mothers","tag-news","tag-northland","tag-operation","tag-phoenix","tag-police","tag-single","tag-targeting","tag-them","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}