Superintendent Tim Anderson and Detective Superintendent Greg Williams discuss the Operation Highwater investigation into alleged drug dealing by the Mongrel Mob Barbarians.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
ANALYSIS:
“Todayis a good day for Ōpōtiki,” said Superintendent Tim Anderson, the Bay of Plenty district commander.
He was standing beside Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, who runs the National Organised Crime Group, and together the senior officers announced the results of Operation Highwater on Tuesday.
The 10-month covert investigation targeted members of the Mongrel Mob Barbarians chapter in Ōpōtiki, a small town in eastern Bay of Plenty with a population of around 10,000 people.
According to wastewater drug testing, Ōpōtiki is consistently among the rural towns or regions with the highest levels of methamphetamine use when calculated on a per capita basis.
The Mongrel Mob Barbarians are a big reason why, the police allege.
Nearly 30 people have been arrested and charged as a result of Operation Highwater, and while the charges are unproven allegations at this stage, the police allege the Barbarians chapter was distributing meth and cannabis in Ōpōtiki and further afield.
As well as drug dealing, the covert investigation allegedly stopped a couple of hits – described by police as probable homicides – by the gang as it planned to shoot its rivals. One was at a tangi.
It was a sobering reminder of the violence and intimidation that gangs can inflict on vulnerable communities.
So today is a good day for Ōpōtiki. The raids will choke the supply of meth (albeit temporarily) and open a window of opportunity for meth users in the region to seek addiction counselling and support from health, iwi and other social agencies.
That window of opportunity cracked open by Operation Highwater will eventually shrink, as other gangs and organised crime groups fill the void left by today’s raids.
It’s a simple rule of economics called supply and demand.
The investigation into the Mongrel Mob Barbarians chapter is also a stark reminder of the difficulties the police face investigating organised crime in smaller towns.
It’s notable the covert investigation was conducted by the National Organised Crime Group (NOCG), which normally focuses on the upper echelon of crime syndicates smuggling drugs into New Zealand.
By way of comparison, other recent NOCG success stories include locking up a group alleged to have smuggled 515kg of meth hidden inside steel beams. Detectives from NOCG have also relentlessly targeted the internationally connected Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang in recent years, including seizing a $3.8 million mansion in a money laundering inquiry.
Going after the Mongrel Mob in Ōpōtiki is at the other end of the spectrum (literally at the other end of the supply chain) but the influence in a small town has a disproportionate impact.
But the time, resources and expertise to conduct the kind of covert investigation needed to unravel a drug dealing network is often beyond the capacity of local police staff, who are already stretched thin with ever-increasing demands of the job.
“This is a lower level operation,” Williams said at the press conference, “but we have to support the districts like Bay of Plenty because of the incredible harm occurring in these communities.”
He referenced another NOCG investigation which was similar.
Six firearms and 13 Mongrel Mob Barbarian patches were seized across the North Island as part of Operation Highwater.
In 2018, Operation Notus took out the Mongrel Mob chapter which controlled the meth trade in Kawerau, another small town in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
That inquiry cleaned up Kawerau, for a time. Unfortunately, the support given to those on the frontline of addiction recovery in the town was too little, too late.
The problem is there are many towns across the country struggling with methamphetamine, just like Ōpōtiki and Kawerau.
“Staff in the districts face this day in, day out. It’s tough for them, and their community,” Williams said.
“I’m fully committed as the director [of NOCG] to step in and support them, and take out a group like this. Hopefully for some time.”
But despite the perseverance of the police to disrupt the drug supply chains, the police cannot do it by themselves.
Compared to urban cities, there is far less support for those struggling with addiction in rural communities across New Zealand.
There are some amazing people working in this space. But to reduce the seemingly insatiable demand for drugs, they need all the help they can get from funding providers.
It’s just simple economics.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
