Christchurch, Canterbury Earthquake

A major earthquake has caused devastation to area of Christchurch and outlying towns.


We have covered some of the day's events over on our Wordpress blog, they may be found here.

This evening Kaiapoi and the central part of Christchurch City was placed under lockdown and a curfew is in place until tomorrow morning 7am. Extra police have been brought in to keep the peace.

More details may be found here Christchurch Curfew Announced, Aftershocks - Update




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Second AOS Call Out This Month In Glenfield, North Shore

The armed offenders squad has been involved in what is thought to be the second call-0ut in Glenfield this month.

News reports about the incident vary, the NZ Herald's account says two truckloads of officers descended on James Street and Glenfield Road after a report of gunshots. The report adds that two women were seen coming out of the house and were taken away by police and that a man seen sitting in a parked ute had been lead away by police.  More here


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Apparently police were called after a member of the public heard a gunshot at around 11 am. Three News said that "Members of the public were asked not to walk down Glenfield Road, near the Wairau Rd, in order to avoid getting in the “line of fire” and added the following information:

Two women were escorted from a property in the same street around 1pm this afternoon. Residents were told to stay indoors.  A negotiator was heard yelling through a loud hailer that AOS had the property “completely surrounded”.
AOS on two SUVs and four police cars were seen entering the cordon via James St earlier this afternoon. An ambulance is also in attendance.

Another report on Stuff said that police had been at the property since 8.45 this morning and it published three photographs of the incident.

Earlier this month, less than a kilometre away, there was another AOS call out in Glenfield, searching for the fugitive Daniel Vae,  a patched member of the King Cobras gang. For more see Daniel Vae and New Zealand's War on Drugs.

At the time police played down suggestions that there is a King Cobra chapter established on the North Shore, although there is the taint of gang activity there already with incidents involving the Bloods and Crips at Glenfield College (see news report) and the Killer Beez.

Shortly before the NZ Herald broke the news of the Daniel Vae arrest it published the article  “Police tip bloodshed” saying that armed turf wars between Asian organised crime, street dealers and gangs could result in the spilling of blood.

The Herald reported that police officer DS McNeill had said Vae had allegdly been taxing low-level methamphetamine dealers who were selling drugs near the King Cobra’s Grey Lynn headquarters.

Gangs demand $30,00o in taxes for dealing on their patch, failure to comply would mean the gang would beat-up the dealers and steal their drugs and money. However, a uneasy relationship between the Asian gangs (who import was pseudoephedrine) and local gangs (who buy it to cook meth) was starting to unravel.

“Some of the gangs are ripping off the Asians, who are starting to arm themselves too. So they’re all carrying guns when they’re doing these deals. It’s not going to be long before there is a shooting.”

Perhaps that explains why police and AOS officers took this latest incident, and reports of a gunshot in Glenfield, so seriously.

For other Glenfield related crime/drug related stories see:

• Operation Slab - Clan Labs Investigation - 18 August 2010 -"Six Clan Labs that have been actively manufacturing Methamphetamine and Ecstasy have been located and dismantled in a multi police district operation..."

• 10 in Court Following Police Bust - 6 August 2010 - "Ten Chinese people appeared in court today in connection with last month's bust of a financial exchange business that was allegedly laundering money in an Asian drug ring..."

For more about armed police and the AOS in New Zealand click here

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