A major police investigation targeting organised crime prevented a planned shooting at a gang tangi and the attempted murder of a rival gang member, police have revealed today.
Police also revealed they have seized illegal drugs and firearms and restrained assets worth $800,000 in an operation targeting members and associates of the Mongrel Mob Barbarian MC East Bay chapter based in Ōpōtiki.
Search warrants were executed in the eastern Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Auckland, Rotorua, Taupō, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington.
Police arrested 28 people – 18 in the Bay of Plenty, three in Auckland, three in Waikato, two in Wellington and two in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
Officers also seized about $800,000 worth of property, including one residential property, four cars, a jetski, two trail bikes, one Harley Davidson motorcycle, $65,000 cash, $86,000 in a bank account and about $20,000 worth of jewellery.
Police seized five rifles and a 3D-printed pistol, as well as illegal drugs including 5.4kg of cannabis and smaller quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine.
Thirteen Mongrel Mob Barbarian Patches were also seized.
The operation has been led by the National Organised Crime Group (NOCG), a branch of the police that specialises in covert inquiries and involves investigation into the alleged distribution of methamphetamine.
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Fourteen of those arrested have appeared in the Tauranga District Court this afternoon in a special sitting before Judge Thomas Ingram.
Another 13 will be appearing tomorrow, in person and via audio-visual link.
Some faced one charge and others many. Charges ranged from drug dealing and firearms to money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group
Some were granted bail and others were remanded in custody. Four were granted interim name suppression. All were remanded to reappear in the same court on November 29.
Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said today is a good day for Ōpōtiki.
“The termination of this operation is a clear message to gang members selling illegal drugs across the Bay of Plenty that we will find you and you will be held accountable for your destructive behaviour,” he said.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue criminals who prey on our communities and cause a huge amount of harm and misery in their own communities with their drug dealing and violent behaviour.”
Head of the police group, Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, said Operation Highwater was an NOCG investigation that commenced in December last year.
He said the investigation primarily focused on the east chapter of the Barbarian motorcycle gang’s involvement in drug dealing.
“It also encompassed a significant amount of violence that the gang was also engaged in.”
He said the gang, based in Ōpōtiki, had caused significant violence and issues and the investigation had prevented two separate homicides. One was a planned shooting at a gang tangi, and the other an attempted murder of a rival gang member in Hamilton.
The NOCG investigations usually focus on the upper echelon of crime syndicates smuggling drugs into New Zealand, such as an instance of 515kg of meth hidden inside steel beams from the United States.
Other recent investigations have targeted the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, which has links to organised crime groups overseas.
But on other occasions, NOCG has focused on local gangs, often in smaller towns, where drug dealing is having a disproportionate effect on the community.
The Herald understands that the raids this morning are the result of a covert investigation into alleged drug dealing by the Barbarians chapter of the Mongrel Mob based in Ōpōtiki.
According to drug testing of the wastewater, Ōpōtiki is consistently among the rural towns or regions with the highest levels of meth when calculated on a per capita basis.
A police spokesperson said a press conference with Williams and Superintendent Tim Anderson, the Bay of Plenty district commander, would be held in Tauranga this afternoon.
The raids on the Mongrel Mob Barbarians come one year after the death of the chapter’s president who had publicly taken an anti-drug stance.
Last month, it was revealed that nearly every single member of the Comancheros motorcycle gang is facing active criminal charges, following a long-running police investigation spanning three years.
As a result of four phases of this investigation, police allege the Comancheros was operating as an organised criminal group conducting a complex money laundering operation; drug importation and supply operations; and a “commission” scheme to fund, among other things, military-style training for some of its members.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says cumulatively 137 charges have been laid against the gang’s members and associates.
Those charged include 17 “office” holders, 10 patched members and 14 prospects of the gang.
“This investigation represents the single biggest blow to the Comancheros’ operations since Operation Nova,” Coster said.
“Police have dealt a blow right to the heart of this gang’s alleged activities, it is an exceptional outcome and shows the dedication of police investigators over the course of three years.
“From the moment the gang established a presence in this country, they made it very clear they saw themselves as the No 1 gang in this country,” Coster said.
“From the very beginning, there has been a multi-agency effort to continuously target, disrupt and enforce criminal activity that has been taking place.
“This has resulted in significant criminal prosecution cases as well as assets and profits being stripped away from their grasp.”
In its most recent phase, Operation Embargo, investigators from the National Organised Crime Group sought evidence about a directive allegedly sent out to Comanchero members three years ago.
It is alleged this directive ordered members to follow rules being set up around the “commission”.
As an example: it is alleged there would be a $5000 commission paid on every kilogram sold by their members.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.