The Head Hunters and members of rival gangs were allegedly using the same network of corrupt baggage handlers at Auckland airport to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of drugs into the country, the Herald can reveal.
A total of 15 baggage handlers have been arrested since June following Operation Matata, a covert investigation into ongoing seizures of methamphetamine and cocaine - sometimes 50 or 100kg in weight - found inside unaccompanied luggage.
The smuggling tactic was simple but effective.
Overseas-based drug suppliers would arrange for their illicit product, packed inside luggage, to be stashed on a flight bound for Auckland.
Once the plane landed, baggage handlers would find the correct luggage and secretly remove it from the airport before the bags could be screened by security.
The “rip on, rip off” tactic is common throughout the world, and relies on organised crime syndicates having trusted insiders working at the border.
In the criminal underworld, this is known as having a “door” into the country. The corrupted workers at the border are valuable assets for organised crime groups, and are well-paid for their services.
The shipments of drugs investigated by Operation Matata came into the country from flights around the world: Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Santiago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
“Insider threats pose a threat to this country, and we are pleased to continue to work with Auckland Airport authorities, Customs and overseas law enforcement agencies to stamp this out,” said Detective Inspector Tom Gollan in a press release announcing the arrests.
Court documents show that the network of baggage handlers at Auckland airport were allegedly helping different gangs to smuggle large amounts of drugs into the country.
Three patched Head Hunter gang members face a number of charges of importing a Class-A drug dating back to August 2024, when 47kg of methamphetamine was discovered inside unattended duffel bags. The drugs were disguised as packets of Durian fruit.
The trio have also been charged with other importations including 28.5kg of meth found in abandoned duffel bags in December, as well as 101kg of cocaine from Hawaii in February.
A patched member of a completely different motorcycle gang, the Two Eight Brotherhood, also allegedly worked with the one of the same baggage handlers as the Head Hunters to import drugs.
Although relatively low profile, the Two Eight Brotherhood is based in south Auckland and several senior members have previously been convicted of drug smuggling through “doors” at the Auckland airport.
With so many different groups involved, Operation Matata alleges several intermediaries, often former baggage handlers who no longer work at the airport themselves, acted as “controllers” to liaise between the gangs and the baggage handlers.
In this way, a third organised crime figure - believed to be affiliated to the Crips gang - has been charged with importing Class-A drugs with the help of the same “controllers” allegedly assisting the Head Hunters.
The most recent alleged import was the seizure of 50kg of meth aboard a flight from Malaysia in June.
During the course of the investigation, police said Operation Matata stopped 631kg of methamphetamine and 112kg of cocaine from reaching the community.
Gollan said that several investigations in recent years meant that the police National Organised Crime Group and Customs now had a good understanding of “any nefarious activity” around the movement of luggage at the airport.
“This knowledge has led to multiple arrests of baggage handlers and those people sitting over the top of them as controllers,” Gollan said.
“Work done to make the airport more resilient to this criminal behaviour has forced organised crime groups to modify the way they operate making them more vulnerable to discovery.”
One of those cases was Operation Selena.
As first revealed by the Herald, Sese Vimahi was a senior Air New Zealand baggage handler who recruited a group of colleagues to divert a suitcase before it could be screened by security.
There was nearly 20kg of methamphetamine inside, and Vimahi was arrested and fired by Air New Zealand.
But while on bail, Vimahi used his connections in Auckland airport to recruit a new team of baggage handlers to continue importing drugs into the country.
The investigation later discovered how the King Cobra gang was running an entirely separate syndicate of corrupt baggage handlers at the airport.
Operation Selena was also highlighted as an example of the “real and increasing threat” of corruption, according to a report written by a group of experts advising the Government on organised crime.
The independent panel recommended establishing a central authority to manage reporting and investigation of corruption, modernising out-of-date laws, longer prison sentences, and stronger vetting of employees in high-risk industries as part of a national anti-corruption strategy.
“Compromised police officers, immigration officials, and private sector employees in our ports and airports have facilitated drug smuggling, leaked sensitive information, and undermined the integrity of our border system,” the ministerial advisory group wrote to Cabinet Minister Casey Costello in June.
“These vulnerabilities are not incidental - organised crime groups actively cultivate them…if left unchecked, this cycle will erode the integrity of New Zealand’s institutions and undermine our collective security.”
The advisory group will keep making recommendations to Costello on a different organised crime topic each month, with a final report to be published in September.
But it has already warned the coalition government that bold changes are needed urgently as New Zealand was “losing the fight” against transnational organised crime, vividly illustrated by how the country was flooded with methamphetamine.
Despite more drugs being seized than ever before, the consumption of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2024 to the highest levels recorded in national wastewater testing.
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, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.