The officers were on standby in case of any further incidents between Mongrel Mob and Road Knights members, Invercargill police Senior Sergeant Olaf Jensen said last night.
"At the moment things are relatively quiet . . . but con-tingencies are in place. The officers are ready to be used as we see fit."
Police spent about an hour yesterday afternoon stopping vehicles north of Dunedin after rumours Mongrel Mob and Road Knights members were travelling towards Invercargill.
Sergeant Paul McLaughlan said "people of interest" in one vehicle were spoken to but not detained.
Officers had also kept a lookout for gang members on motorcycles but none had been seen.
However, gang members may have already reached Invercargill - three carloads of Road Knights affiliates were seen cruising the streets of the central city during the afternoon and again in South Invercargill early in the evening.
Bad blood between the Mongrel Mob and Road Knights reached boiling point in Invercargill on Thursday after the heavily fortified Road Knights headquarters in South Invercargill was destroyed in an early morning blaze.
One man sleeping in the house was rescued by firefighters.
Mongrel Mob members stood nearby, chanting and cheering as the house burned.
Later that day, police stormed the Invercargill Mongrel Mob headquarters and arrested four people.
Eight Mongrel Mob members - five from Invercargill and three from Dunedin - appeared in the Invercargill District Court yesterday on a variety of charges including arson, criminal damage and unlawful possession of firearms.
The arson charges did not relate to the fire at the Road Knights house.
At a media conference yesterday afternoon, Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Cowie said some Invercargill Mongrel Mob members also faced charges of stealing two Harley Davidson motorbikes valued at $20,000 each from the Road Knights headquarters on Thursday morning.
Security was tight during the men's court appearances.
Twenty police officers stood guard outside the courthouse, with more inside.
The five Invercargill men were remanded in custody.
The three from Dunedin were remanded on bail and told to return to Dunedin by the end of the day.
Snr Sgt Jensen said police were "confident the men had left the city".
Jen, a self-employed pizza delivery person who did not want to give her last name, said she saw two carloads of gang members being spoken to by police in Wachner Pl in the central city about 3.30pm.
"There were police there from three cars and a van. They were out in force."
She had seen many more patrol cars in the city than usual.
Traffic was light on the streets last evening, she said.
At yesterday's press conference, Inspector Tony O'Neill asked the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity, then leave matters up to the police.
