Police have arrested 11 men across the country with connections to the Mongrel Mob today with charges as serious as attempted murder after several drive-by shootings and assaults in Southland.
The sting targetted the Mongrel Mob’s Mataura Chapter and involved 12 search warrants at midday today in Mataura, Gore, Dunedin, and Hamilton. Three of the arrests were also made in Auckland.
The arrests are the result of months of work by Invercargill Police with nationwide support as a part of Operation Pakari. This operation is a branch of Operation Cobalt which targets gang offending.
Those arrested were involved in a drive-by shooting in Centre St, Invercargill in January last year, several incidents in February and in April last year where people were dropped off at Gore Hospital seriously injured and a drive-by shooting in Elizabeth St, Invercargill last June.
![Police executing search warrants in Southland which led to the arrest of 11 men with gang connections.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/WFTSCVEKORG4XKPC7CXQOTSYV4.jpg?auth=adae72affc502ab9c35cc373db4b56bfd5fadf68fb5719356e35ff084c5c8377&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)