KEY POINTS:
Ten more arrests have been made today as police and fisheries officers continue the crackdown on paua poaching.
The massive operation targeting the illicit harvest and trade in paua from the Wellington coast yesterday scooped up as many as 25 members and associates of the Mongrel Mob -
many of whom were diving for paua - and businessmen such as restaurateurs in Auckland and Wellington.
Some are facing charges with maximum penalties of a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.
A Ministry of Fisheries spokesman said today that 10 more people had been arrested and two more vehicles seized in the second phase of Operation Paid.
A man alleged to be the leader of the Wellington paua poaching network faces serious charges in Lower Hutt District Court today, and another person is scheduled to appear in Manukau District Court in South Auckland.
A number of Auckland-based people will also charges in Manukau District Court on Friday. The remainder of alleged offenders will appear in Lower Hutt District Court on June 10, 12 and 17.
Those appearing in court are expected to face more than 300 serious charges under the Fisheries Act 1996.
These charges are carried out under Section 233 of the Fisheries Act, which carries a maximum penalty of up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.
Fisheries Ministry national investigations manager Shaun Driscoll said yesterday that paua theft in the region was organised and the distribution chain was complex.
"People involved in paua poaching rings like this are seasoned criminals, often members or associates of gangs, who are often involved in other criminal activity," he said.
One local man was trading as much as a tonne of illicit paua each week.
"He would typically pay his divers $17/kg for the paua meat and on-sell it for about $50/kg," Mr Driscoll said. This was generating $13,000 a week for the man - who was arrested today - and $7000 for his divers, and showed paua poaching was being seen as a "lucrative criminal enterprise".
About 291 criminal charges are being laid and 35 vehicles are being seized.
Mr Driscoll said a number of those arrested in the latest sting were recidivist offenders, and there was a mix of ethnic groups involved.
Another eight people have already appeared before the courts on half a dozen different charges.
The arrests involved 133 fisheries officers and about 70 police in 76 addresses at Auckland, Wellington, Opotiki and Hastings - the largest anti-poaching operation mounted since 2002.
Since September 2007, an undercover officer had bought over 9.3 tonnes of paua - 36,000 shellfish - and sold them on to buyers acting as wholesalers.
The paua was worth about $870,000 wholesale and had a retail value of $1.3 million, but Mr Driscoll said it represented only part of the buyers' illegal operations.
Paua Industry Council chief executive Jeremy Cooper said poaching cost the industry millions every year, and called for harsh penalties for those convicted.
"Their selfish greed is threatening the sustainability of paua fisheries and putting the future of this valuable resource at risk," he said.
"I hope that the courts will recognise the damage these greedy people are doing to our paua fisheries... We will be hoping for harsh penalties that will act as a deterrent to others."
- NZPA
