Bikies rally goes off incident-free

Marlborough police greeted bikies as they disembarked the Cook Strait ferry on Friday on their way to Nelson.

No arrests were made but police at both ends of Cook Strait stopped travelling motorcyclists checking for licences, taking details and breath testing some.

About 30 bikies were stopped by 12 police officers from Picton and Blenheim after they had disembarked from the ferry at 2pm, before heading to Nelson.

Many of the bikies were Hells Angels gang members.

Nelson police Senior Sergeant Grant Andrews, who headed Operation Joker 2, said no arrests were made and there were no confrontations involving any other gangs or groups. He said about 130 motorcycles left Isel Park in Stoke, Nelson, at 12.30pm on Saturday.

Up to 40 patches from both the Hells Angels and the Red Devils were in the group, Mr Andrews said. They went to Mapua and Marahau, then to Upper Moutere and finished at a restaurant in Tahunanui at 5.30pm.

The outing marked the one year anniversary of the first public outing in Nelson of patched members of the Red Devils, a puppet gang of the Hells Angels.

Police had promised they would be out in force and said the public should not be intimidated by the gang presence. Fairfax

- The Marlborough Express