KEY POINTS:
A Housing New Zealand property tied up in the arrests of 10 gang members and associates yesterday was allegedly home to two P labs and is so badly contaminated it is likely to be demolished.
Police arrested three patched Mongrel Mob members and seven associates in the three-month operation which yesterday saw police armed offenders squads swoop on eight Manurewa properties.
While police were still tallying up the items seized, Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Lynch said it appeared police had recovered P with a street value of up to $40,000.
They had also found tens of thousands of dollars of cash in the raid.
Mr Lynch said the main bust occurred with the assistance of the armed offenders squad at 4.30am when a Shifnal Dr home was raided.
"It looks as though there were two labs operating there - one in the garage and one in the house," he said.
"It's being described as a substantial lab that is alleged to have been making commercial quantities of methamphetamine."
Two other P labs - one in Bombay which netted equipment and materials used in the manufacture of the drug were seized and another in a vehicle - had also been busted in the past fortnight.
A nearby property on Sturdee Rd, Manurewa, was also raided yesterday.
Police clandestine laboratory teams were last night working to clear up the lab where toxic chemicals had been absorbed into the home.
Early indications were that the Shifnal Dr property was beyond repair. "This lab appears to have been a substantial laboratory and advice at this stage is that the house and the garage are just so badly contaminated that it's likely they're both going to be destroyed," Mr Lynch said.
Counties Manukau Police crime services manager Detective Inspector John Tims said more than 100 police staff were involved in the operation, dubbed Operation Vito, which
was conducted by the Organised Crime Unit after investigations into the activities of high-profile gang members.
The accused are expected to face a number of charges, including manufacturing methamphetamine.
"The arrests send a strong message that police and the community will not tolerate organised criminal gangs involving themselves in producing and supplying methamphetamine, a drug which is responsible for considerable harm in the Counties Manukau community," Mr Tims said.
The raid comes months after the Herald revealed that Housing New Zealand was suing six people who were convicted of making P in a State house for $184,766. Sixteen P labs were found in Housing NZ properties between July 2002 and June last year. Two homes - one in Napier, the other in Hamilton - had to be demolished.
