A Mongrel Mob chapter has opened up shop in Canada, believed to be the first time the gang has had a presence outside of New Zealand, Australia or England.
Posts on social media show more than a dozen people are associated with the gang in the area of Montreal, Quebec, with their Facebook page established on August 12.
Pictures of members show they have created "Mongrel Mob Canada" regalia and clothing, but none are pictured wearing patches as yet.
Comments on posts indicate the chapter has an affiliation with the Waikato Kingdom chapter.
The Mongrel Mob was founded in Hawke's Bay in the 1960s, and has long had chapters not only in New Zealand, but Australia also.
University of Canterbury Professor of Sociology and criminologist Greg Newbold said the Canadian chapter was "likely set up by an ex-pat over there - probably someone with mongrel connections here.
"The Mongrel Mob's a fairly loose group and I would think that anyone who wants to start up a club can," Mr Newbold said.
There is no real, coherant national association among the Mongrel Mob, he said, and individual clubs will generally patch up their own members as they see fit.
"There's no national standards, so each different club will have its own rules and procedures."
Mr Newbold suggested the Canadian chapter could have trouble getting a foothold if they came under pressure from other, more established gangs in the Montreal area.
"Their survival is probably dependent on what gangs they're competing with over there ... there'll be a few French-Canadian gangs over there, I'd say ... it'll be worse than here," he said.
The Mongrel Mob is "not really a racial organisation", Mr Newbold said, so ethnically-Canadian people were as likely a target for recruitment as anyone else.
"They'll take anyone ... they've got Pākehā in their gang, mainly Māori, but over there of course, they'll take whoever they can get - as long as they are rough enough and tough enough."
New Zealand Police figures show there were about 5785 identified gang members and prospects across all gangs in New Zealand, as of April this year - up 1500 on two years ago.
The largest gang in New Zealand remains the Mongrel Mob, according to those figures.
New Zealand and Canadian Police have been approached for comment.
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