The president of Mongrel Mob Aotearoa in Dunedin is in custody after appearing in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on 61 charges related to drug dealing.
James Rata Stevenson (32), unemployed, was remanded in custody by consent to April 29.
He is one of more than 11 gang members and associates arrested during, and since, raids in Dunedin and Gisborne on Wednesday.
The arrests are the culmination of a six-month-long police surveillance operation.
Stevenson and another senior Mongrel Mob member, Teone Jack Thompson, are jointly charged with a wide variety of charges, mostly relating to the sale and supply of cannabis on various dates since April last year.
The pair, together with a third senior gang member, are also charged jointly with participation in an organised crime enterprise.
Thompson was remanded in custody by consent to April 29. He faces multiple drugs charges.
Another two gang associates who appeared in court yesterday on selling and possession charges were remanded on bail to May 11.
