A Customs investigator with Detective Senior Sergeant Kevan Verry of the Organised Crime unit at Takahiwai during the first phase of Operation Freya. Photo / NZME
A Customs investigator with Detective Senior Sergeant Kevan Verry of the Organised Crime unit at Takahiwai during the first phase of Operation Freya. Photo / NZME
A Harley-Davidson Wide Glide became the quiet linchpin in the legal fallout of Operation Freya – a covert drug investigation that exposed Northland’s criminal underworld.
Now, nearly four years after the bust, the High Court has approved a settlement that finalises the motorcycle’s fate.
Operation Freya was a six-month investigationled by Northland’s Organised Crime Unit, targeting the smuggling of drugs from overseas – including Africa – and their distribution across New Zealand.
The operation culminated in November 2021 with 11 search warrants executed across Northland and Rotorua seizing more than $8 million worth of drugs.
The seizures included 17kg of methamphetamine, 5.44kg of MDMA, 1kg of pseudoephedrine, $70,000 in cash, two firearms, ammunition and assets worth $240,000, including vehicles, a boat and the Harley-Davidson.
Thirteen individuals linked to the Head Hunters and Mongrel Mob were arrested, including key figures like Kauri Arthur Kerr and Herbert George Rata.
Kerr, 31, a member of the Mongrel Mob in the Bay of Plenty, was said to have spearheaded the group after he moved into Northland in 2020 with his partner.
Kerr, considered the operation’s ringleader, was sentenced to 12 years and eight months’ imprisonment for importing and distributing methamphetamine and his partner’s father, Iti Strickland Arama was also charged for his peripheral role.
Arama was found to have operated a modest cannabis dealing enterprise but also facilitated Kerr’s drug trafficking by allowing his Whangārei home to be used as a drop site for packages containing drugs.
He was sentenced to 10 months’ home detention.
Among the items seized from Arama’s home was a Harley-Davidson Wide Glide motorcycle, registered in his name since 2015, and which became the centrepiece for multiple court hearings around ownership.
Though Arama never held a motorcycle licence, police suspected the bike was effectively controlled by Kerr.
Kauri Kerr was considered the ringleader of the operation.
In a recently released High Court decision, Arama agreed not to file any claims of ownership over the motorcycle and to forfeit any proceeds from its sale.
The Harley was restrained under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 and sold for $13,749.29, with proceeds going to the Crown.
A separate forfeiture hearing is currently being heard in the High Court in relation to the $70,000.
Operation Freya disrupted a syndicate that had deeply embedded itself in Northland’s drug market, which has some of the highest methamphetamine use per capita in New Zealand.
According to police, the bust prevented an estimated $25m in harm to the community.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
