Police have arrested a woman as part of an investigation into a drug syndicate with gang associations in Auckland.
A concoction of illegal drugs was seized as part of a series of search warrants targeting a drug syndicate manufacturing and distributing the substances, a police spokesperson said.
Police also located a firearm, ammunition and stolen property during their searches of the Auckland properties as part of Operation Cobalt, which targets unlawful activities of gangs.
Detective Inspector Lloyd Schmid said search warrants were executed across Wednesday and Thursday as part of an investigation into the syndicate which has associations with the Head Hunters gang.
"A woman located at an address in Browns Bay was arrested and is facing serious charges as a result," Det Insp Schmid said. "At the address, police seized a large number of items of interest to our investigation."
Among the items located were 23 x 15 gram bottles of GBL, a large quantity of LSD and smaller quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and cannabis.
A Tec-9 sub-machine gun along with a range of ammunition was also located at the property on Valdese Rise, along with around $25,000 in cash. Police also recovered stolen property including tools and jewellery.
The 32-year-old woman is now before the North Shore District Court on charges including possession for supply of GBL and LSD.
She has also been charged with unlawfully possessing a prohibited firearm and four counts of unlawfully possessing explosives.
Other charges also relate to theft and drug offences.
"Operation Cobalt is continuing to target and disrupt illegal behaviour, such as the operation allegedly being operated by this syndicate," Det Insp Schmid said.
"Our search warrants were conducted at a number of addresses across the region.
This is a pleasing result given the harm we know is being inflicted on communities when these drugs are distributed."
He said police will continue to target unlawful activities of gang members and their associates.
The investigation remains ongoing, and police cannot rule out further arrests being made.
Police continue to encourage anyone with information about illegal activities taking place in their community to get in touch.
They can contact police via their 105 service or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
