A Far North hapu aims to drive the scourge of methamphetamine from its rohe after seven "P" laboratories were found on its sacred mountain Whakakoro in North Hokianga.
The labs and six baches burned to the ground last month following a major drugs bust in the area were discussed duringa hui at the Kotahitanga Marae at Whangape on Sunday.
The meeting, organised by the local Ngati Haua hapu of Te Rarawa, was attended by about 40 people, including a man from a neighbouring iwi whose son had died through using methamphetamine, or P as it is commonly known.
Kaitaia police Detective Sergeant Trevor Beatson yesterday commended the Whangape people for the stance they were taking to heal the community after divisions caused by methamphetamine.
A major P manufacturing operation based at Whangape was shut down in November when police arrested nine people, three of them from Whangape, and seized $2 million in assets.
Police also found $300,000 worth of P and $154,000 in cash - $100,000 of which was in a buried ammunition case. The bust is understood to have sparked a feud within local families, with the bach fires seen as revenge attacks against suspected police informants.
A map locating seven P labs found on Whakakoro last year was displayed by police at the hui, where Mr Beatson said he was unable to discuss details of the case, instead focusing on production and use of the drug.
Kaitaia police iwi liaison officer Te Uri Reihana suggested people who found signs of more P labs in Whangape should ring him.
A Ngati Haua statement issued after the hui said that to avoid finger-pointing it was agreed all investigations into drug manufacturing and the bach fires would be left to police. Parents were urged to calm their young people, who the statement said tended to defend or attack the P industry.
Some bach owners shared their hurt over the fires, but the hui heard two baches had already been rebuilt.
Whakakoro is the sacred maunga from which the tupuna Ueoneone summoned his mystical manu (bird) to travel to Tainui to return with Reipai and Reitu. Ngati Haua and their Ngapuhi neighbours whakapapa to these ancestors.
The hui unanimously supported Whakakoro returning to Ngati Haua. A claim for the maunga was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in 1997.
The maunga is on the 750ha Whangapae Station owned by the Van den Brink poultry family, featuring on the NBR rich list last year as worth $75 million. The farm is for sale for $4.6 million.
