Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Mobsters jailed after police uncover Te Haroto meth operation

By Anneke Smith
Reporter·Hawkes Bay Today·
20 Apr, 2018 05:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The 2014 methamphetamine bust unearthed $310,000 of cash that had been buried in the ground, $144,000 of methamphetamine and two firearms. Photo/Supplied

The 2014 methamphetamine bust unearthed $310,000 of cash that had been buried in the ground, $144,000 of methamphetamine and two firearms. Photo/Supplied

A pair of patched Mongrel Mob members have been jailed for their roles in a significant methamphetamine operation in Hawke's Bay.

Derek Wayne Irwin and Nilesh Prasad appeared in the Napier District Court for sentencing on a number of drugs and weapons charges.

They were arrested after police foiled a methamphetamine operation being run from Irwin's rural farm in Te Haroto, State Highway 5, in 2014.

Police became aware of the operation at the start of that year through another operation being run in Christchurch and placed the pair under surveillance; monitoring their texts, phone calls and activity.

A search of Irwin's property in October unearthed $310,000 cash that had been buried in the ground near the 4ha farm.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They also found 403.9 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of about $144,000, and two firearms with ammunition.

At the time police believed they had cracked a major methamphetamine ring in Hawke's Bay and made a significant dent in the drug's supply, not just the region but to other parts of the country.

Irwin and Prasad denied the offending but were found guilty by jury almost three and a half years later after a seven-day trial held in the Napier District Court last month.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Irwin, 56, was found guilty of four charges each of possessing methamphetamine for supply and supplying the drug, as well as two charges of unlawfully possessing a pistol.

Prasad, 40, was found guilty of one charge of supplying methamphetamine.

At sentencing the court heard both Prasad and Irwin were patched Mongrel Mob members but Irwin was no longer an active member.

Judge Bridget Mackintosh said Prasad had been a "prolific" methamphetamine dealer and sourced the drug from Irwin.

Text message data was a key component in the case against the 40-year-old, with almost 300 drug transactions identified in messages he sent to people throughout the region.

He regularly travelled, sometimes late at night, and would often visit Irwin's farm; clocking up 30 trips in the space of seven months.

Irwin, described as a loner whose main friend appeared to be Prasad, had lived at his Te Haroto farm for 26 years and used methamphetamine on a daily basis.

In 2006 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on one charge of possessing methamphetamine for supply and one charge of possessing a pipe.

Judge Mackintosh said he lived with his son, partner and her children on the farm and noted she had received a heartfelt letter from his partner detailing Irwin's qualities and the support he had given her family.

However, there was "nothing to be said" about mitigating factors for Irwin's case, she said, and she sentenced him 13.5 years' imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of six years and nine months.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A large question remained as to why Prasad, the father of a young teenager, had resorted to dealing methamphetamine, the Judge said.

The court heard he had offended for financial reasons but Judge Mackintosh said it was perhaps his association with the Mongrel Mob that had led him down a "slippery slope" of offending.

She sentenced him to five years' imprisonment with no minimum non-parole period.

A new study by Massey University suggests Hawke's Bay has the second highest rate of methamphetamine use in the country.

The study found Hawke's Bay was one of the regions in the North Island with the worst rates of drug dependency, ranking second for the use of methamphetamine and fifth for cannabis use.

The highest rate of methamphetamine use was in Waikato, with 43 per cent of those who used in the previous six months, closely followed by Gisborne/Hawke's Bay at 42 per cent.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In September last year Hawke's Bay police arrested 13 people, a number of whom were Mongrel Mob affiliates, for high-level drug offending after a six-month investigation into an organised crime unit.

Three kilograms of methamphetamine holding a street value of $2.5 million were seized, along with $343,000 in cash, 2200 LSD tabs, eight firearms, six upmarket vehicles and a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle.

The maximum penalty for supplying methamphetamine is life imprisonment.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Speed limit to increase on Napier-Taupō state highway next week

16 May 04:10 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Flaxmere's time': 150 social homes planned for Hastings suburb

16 May 03:01 AM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Cancer test delayed for over a year — now his business is gone

15 May 06:19 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Speed limit to increase on Napier-Taupō state highway next week

Speed limit to increase on Napier-Taupō state highway next week

16 May 04:10 AM

The limit was cut to 80km/h in February 2022. Now it's going back to 100km/h.

'Flaxmere's time': 150 social homes planned for Hastings suburb

'Flaxmere's time': 150 social homes planned for Hastings suburb

16 May 03:01 AM
Premium
Cancer test delayed for over a year — now his business is gone

Cancer test delayed for over a year — now his business is gone

15 May 06:19 PM
'I'll just carry on': 94-year-old's inspiring marathon journey

'I'll just carry on': 94-year-old's inspiring marathon journey

15 May 06:00 PM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP