KEY POINTS:
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt plans a special meeting with police to discuss the city's gang situation after a suspicious blaze razed one gang headquarters yesterday and police stormed a second, arresting four people.
The heavily fortified headquarters of motorcycle gang the Road Knights was destroyed in the blaze.
Four members of the Mongrel Mob were later arrested after police raided the gang's headquarters in south Invercargill.
Police are refusing to say if there is a link between the two incidents.
An eyewitness said she heard chanting outside the Road Knights' Balmoral Drive property shortly before 7am, followed by two loud explosions.
"The explosions were very loud. Ten times louder than a shotgun," she said.
Calling emergency services, she watched as fire engulfed the top floor of the gang house.
"There was no one else around. The people who were chanting were gone by the time I looked at the house."
The arrival of emergency services soon after was followed by a taxi full of patched Mongrel Mob members, she said.
"I noticed that they were doing the same kind of chants, but the police soon put a stop to that."
Southern fire region assistant commander Brendan Nally said the city's five fire crews, including up to 28 firefighters, were sent to the blaze while a crew from Bluff covered the city until the fire was brought under control.
Firefighters found a sole occupant asleep in one of the downstairs bedrooms. The man was taken through a window to safety and was treated by St John Ambulance staff, before being released.
"If that guy was in there another five minutes, he would have been in big trouble."
Some Road Knights members had returned to the house by that stage, concerned that two of their motorcycles were still inside the house, Mr Nally said.
"We managed to get a rather nice looking red Ducati out of the building, but the second one wasn't in there."
About 4pm the armed offenders squad stormed the Invercargill Mongrel Mob headquarters in Severn St and arrested four gang members.
Senior Sergeant Olaf Jensen said the men were arrested as a result of "items of interest" being found inside the compound. The arrests were the result of an "ongoing investigation".
Three men will appear in the Invercargill District Court today.
TV3 reported that members of the gang were seen earlier burning a motorcycle thought to have belonged to the Road Knights.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
