Police eavesdropped on conversations and tracked vehicles through a global positioning system to break up a Black Power drug ring.
The leader of the operation was Richard John Te Rure, 56, the captain of the Eastern Black Power chapter based in Hawke’s Bay, and a man with a history of methamphetamine offending stretching back nearly 20 years.
Te Rure was sentenced in the Napier District Court to three years and nine months in prison – a jail term that could have been longer had the judge not given him credit for his recent attempts to rehabilitate.
Delays in Te Rure’s sentencing, including disruptions to the courts in this year’s extreme weather events, meant that two lieutenants in the drug-dealing operation have already served their sentences after police broke it up in September 2020.
Alan Haroto Mananui Mason was sentenced to one year of home detention in January last year.
Karl Andre Allan was sentenced to six and a half months of home detention in December 2021.
They and Te Rure were convicted of possessing methamphetamine for supply. Te Rure was also charged with conspiracy to supply methamphetamine.
They were netted by Operation Divide, which began in August 2020 when police obtained a surveillance device warrant to listen to Te Rure’s private conversations, according to court documents.
The investigation established that Te Rure, Mason and Allan were sourcing large amounts of methamphetamine outside Hawke’s Bay and bringing it to Napier.
Through the surveillance devices, police heard Te Rure arranging with a female associate for her to travel to Manawatū and buy methamphetamine on his behalf, providing her with thousands of dollars in cash.
Police also saw the woman send a message to Te Rure saying there was “a problem”, according to a Crown summary of facts.
Te Rure then spoke to different associates to say the woman had run into trouble and “seemed to have lost his money, and he had no methamphetamine”.
The summary of facts noted that Te Rure’s position as a Black Power captain meant that he had a number of patched gang members and prospects operating under his direction.
Monitoring of their communications uncovered drug dealing between gang members and associates in Manawatū, Hamilton and Auckland.
Later analysis of the communications indicated that an ounce (28 grams) of methamphetamine was selling for between $7000 and $11,500, subject to availability and the relationship between the seller and buyer.
Police said this was consistent with the going rate nationally at the time.
“During this time period, it was established that the defendants Te Rure, Mason and Allan were actively sourcing methamphetamine from out of the Hawke’s Bay region, purchasing large amounts and returning to Napier, where it was on-sold in smaller amounts,” the summary said.
Allan and Mason used rental vehicles for drug-dealing trips – something that contributed to the ring’s undoing after police obtained a warrant to track vehicles using the rental company’s pre-installed GPS systems.
On a final trip in September 2020, Mason, Allen and a relative of Mason stopped at the Z petrol station in Taupō in the early hours of the morning to refuel.
Police converged on them, causing Allan to jump back into the car and lock the doors before attempting to drive off.
When he realised he was blocked in and could not move, he started smashing his cellphone to pieces.
He was arrested, as were Mason and his relative nearby.
Police searched the car and found two plastic pots containing 48.8g of meth, along with empty plastic bags, meth pipes, scales, used needles and “numerous” cellphones.
Later, Te Rure was further charged with possession of methamphetamine and cannabis for supply following a police raid on the house where he was on electronicall monitored bail for the Operation Divide offending.
They found 0.65g of methamphetamine and a total of 18.64g of cannabis, divided into eight snap-lock bags, which are commonly used for drug dealing.
They also found a pipe, digital scales and $3895 in cash.
Crown prosecutor Brenna McKenzie sought forfeiture of the money when Te Rure appeared for sentencing in the Napier District Court before Judge Gordon Matenga last week.
This was opposed by defence counsel Scott Jefferson, who consulted with Te Rure and said his client maintained the cash was part of a compensation payout for abuse Te Rure had suffered as a child in state care.
McKenzie did not pursue the forfeiture.
In sentencing Te Rure, Judge Matenga said reports before him indicated Te Rure had been in the grip of drug addiction for most of his life, following a childhood marked by alcohol, drugs and the gang lifestyle.
Te Rure had been “puffing substances” at age 9, drinking alcohol at 12, using cannabis at 15 and then progressed to harder drugs including LSD, opiates and meth.
By this stage he was heavily into the drugs scene and gangs, and rose quickly through the ranks of Black Power.
“Of course, a life of crime followed, as sure as night followed day,” Judge Matenga said.
However, Te Rure had taken part in a prison rehabilitation course and the Huarahi Pai programme for methamphetamine addiction in Gisborne, and “may have turned a corner”, the judge said. He recently returned three negative drug tests.
Te Rure has spent nearly two years in custody on remand, meaning he may get to go before the Parole Board soon.
After imposing the jail sentence, Judge Matenga said: “Good luck, Mr Te Rure.”
In 2006, Te Rure was jailed for 10 years and six months, with a non-parole period of seven years, for manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of a precursor material.
In 2017, he was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for possessing methamphetamine for supply.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.