KEY POINTS:
Dealing drugs in daylight outside a busy South Auckland pub has angered nearby businesses and led to the arrest of more than 40 people on drugs charges.
Senior Sergeant Richard Wilkie said the arrests were made last Thursday, outside the Star Hotel in Great South Rd, Otahuhu.
Mr Wilkie, of the mobile policing unit, said the suspects were associates of the Otahuhu chapter of Black Power.
Of those arrested, eight were selling cannabis, and the remainder were buyers.
Those arrested appeared in Manukau District Court on Friday on various counts of selling and possession for supply of a class C drug, and are to re-appear on July 27.
The arrests came after businesses owners and workers around the hotel complained about cars parking on the footpath and double parking in front of businesses while buyers went to meet dealers outside the hotel.
Police monitored the activity for two weeks before giving many of those involved a warning and arrests were made days later.
"The arrests were made between 10am and 4pm, and the buyers were mainly from business and community groups throughout the Otahuhu area," Mr Wilkie said.
The mobile police unit was a profiling team, which aimed to identify areas of crime and ensure they did not emerge elsewhere.
After the arrests in Operation Leo, which targeted members of the Killer Beez and Tribesman gangs in Otara, Papatoetoe and Waikato and seized methamphetamine worth more than $500,000 this month, police recognised that those involved had possibly moved to another area, he said.
Mr Wilkie said the mobile policing team were now asking the employers of those arrested, why their staff were buying drugs and going back to work.
- NZPA
