Children lured into street gangs / STUFF - New Zealand, 17 July 2004

By ANNA CLARIDGE and TIM HUME

Children as young as 10 are being recruited into new Christchurch street gangs, in a phenomenon experts fear will increase the peddling of P and other hard drugs.

An estimated 250 youths ranging in age from 10 to 17 belong to the street gangs the Crips and the Bloods, which some police and youth workers believe are feeding prospects into the Mongrel Mob and Black Power.
Although official police and Child Youth and Family (CYF) representatives are sceptical about the increasing youth gang trend, police officers and youth workers who cannot be named have confirmed to The Press the young gangs are a rapidly worsening problem. "