Ten people with alleged gang connections, nine to the Auckland Hells Angels, have been arrested around the country after police raids on Wednesday.
The Hells Angels men have had intentional damage and firearms charges laid against them over alleged illegal hunting in the Woodhill State Forest, northwest of Auckland.
Police said five of the men were Hells Angels members and four were associates.
The raided properties included the motorcycle gang's headquarters in Brentwood Ave, Mt Eden, police said.
Six firearms were seized in the raids.
The other person arrested was made following raids in New Plymouth, including at the Magogs gang headquarters in Ngamotu.
Detective Inspector Grant Wormald said Woodhill Forest was used by trampers, mountain bikers and recreational hunters, and hunting was only allowed through a carefully managed ballot system.
"Other than that nobody should be in there at all with a firearm," he said.
"We don't have to look too far back in time to remember the tragic fatal shooting of a young woman in a recreational forest near Turangi as a result of someone hunting illegally at night".
Wednesday's raids were part of work by police and the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (Ofcanz) to disrupt Hells Angels activities in the past two and a half years, Det Insp Wormald said.
"A number of Hell's Angels gang members from around New Zealand have been prosecuted or are now on active charges ranging from possession and supply of methamphetamine to robbery, burglary and extortion.
"Our goal is to investigate the crimes they are committing and disrupt their activities to the extent that it's very hard for them to operate at all."
The nine men charged in Auckland will appear in North Shore District Court on Wednesday afternoon.
NZN