Police urge vineyards not to employ gangs

A top Blenheim cop is calling on vineyard owners not to employ gang members in a bid to drive the "parasitic criminals" out of the town.

Eight gang Mongrel Mob gang members, including a 13-year-old boy, were arrested after a brawl in Blenheim in which in a man was hospitalised when hit on the head with a bottle.

The gang members allegedly gatecrashed a party at a house in Brewer St on Saturday night, then returned the next day and carried out another attack.

Inspector Steve Caldwell said the brawl was a reminder of the threat posed by gangs and they were not welcome in Marlborough.

"Gangs commit crime," he told The Press.

"They are not boy scout organisations."

He asked local vineyard owners, who employ thousands of labourers, not to take them on.

"I'm simply saying this: if they are not accommodated, they don't have opportunities; they will return from whence they came," Mr Caldwell said.

However, Marlborough's Viticultural Contractors Association chairman Mack Pouwhare said it was not illegal to be a gang member and he would employ anyone who did not have a criminal record.

- NZPA