Gang members in court after police raid

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 3

Gang members in court after police raid

Nelson reporter

A sawn-oif 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle cut down to hand-gun size were found by the Nelson Armed Offenders Squad in a raid on a shack on a Dovedale property early yesterday.

As a result of the raid, seven young people from the North Island who, police said had travelled to the Motueka district to establish a chapter of the Mongrel Mob motorcycle gang, appeared in Nelson courts yesterday afternoon. ‘

Four of them appeared in the Children and Young Persons Court and were remanded in Social Welfare care to Wanganui on June 5. Another, aged 16, appeared in the District Court, and was , also remanded to Wanganui in custody. He was charged with a breach of probation, the other four with being idle and disorderly at Dovedale in that they had insufficient means of support. Robert John Cooper, aged 24, unemployed, of Wanganui, appeared in the District Court and admitted a charge

of having possession of an unlawful weapon, a sawn-off, semi-automatic .22 rifle.

Sergeant D. Allen said that on May 14, Cooper, with six other young people, left Wanganui to travel to Motueka to set up a chapter of the motor-cycle gang. They were found asleep in a small, unkempt shack at Dovedale and during a search the sawn-off rifle was uncovered. Cooper, admitting that it was his, said that he had it for protection because he had twice been shot at in the North Island.

Allan Edward Atkins, aged 21, an unemployed labourer, also appeared in the District Court and admitted possession of a sawn-off shotgun. Sergeant Allan said the shack was owned by the defendant’s father. The sin-gle-barrel shotgun was discovered under the defendant's mattress. The defendant said that the gun was owned by his father and was for protection: •

Both men were convicted and remanded in custody to June 5 for reports and sentence.