Tribal Huk have declared war on meth dealers but the gang's members are still being caught with the drug. Photo / SBS
Tribal Huk have declared war on meth dealers but the gang's members are still being caught with the drug. Photo / SBS
A patched gang member busted with 36 grams of meth in the glovebox of his car claims he was selling it to “make fast money ... because he has kids”.
But a judge has slammed not only Anaru Tukere’s excuse, but the Ngāruawāhia-based Tribal Huk gang’s “ironic” stance on thedrug, given they had been vocal in recent years for trying to get it out of North Waikato.
The 29-year-old was a passenger in a car driven by his partner along Great South Rd in Taupiri, on New Year’s Day when it was stopped by police for speeding.
After searching the car, police found a plastic container with meth inside, two ziplock bags containing meth, 80 small ziplock point bags, $3500 cash, scales and two 100g metal weights.
When questioned, Tukere admitted he had meth and that he had bought 14g off Facebook Marketplace and was selling it “to make fast money because he has kids”.
‘A precarious situation’
Tukere’s counsel, Mark Sturm, said his client knew the “precariousness” of Judge Noel Cocurullo’s sentencing decision in the Hamilton District Court yesterday, given he had previously accepted a sentence indication of three years’ jail.
“This man is able to contribute positively to society and his whānau,” Sturm said, adding Tukere was actively involved in rugby league.
He’d also got himself a job at Affco, in Horotiu, and would be able to keep that job as long as he wasn’t sent to jail.
But Judge Cocurullo wanted to know if he still associated with the Tribal Huks.
“He instructs me that his association over the last couple of years since the birth of his daughter has diminished considerably,” Sturm said.
“He said he has whānau who are part of the Tribal Huks, he says he has friends who have been part of it and perhaps was more part of his life in the past.
“He instructs me [Tribal Huks] are not a part of his life anymore.”
Former Tribal Huk leader Jamie Pink. Photo / Alan Gibson
In 2015, Tribal Huk leader Jamie Pink hit headlines after giving meth dealers in Ngāruawāhia 24 hours to leave - and said they’d only ask nicely the first time.
The gang was also known as the “sandwich gang” as they made thousands of sandwiches each day for local school kids.
However, Pink was sentenced in December 2020 to seven years and four months in prison for a brazen and brutal attack on the gang’s former sergeant-at-arms, Zion Coker, which happened on Ngāruawāhia’s main street in view of a crowd of locals.
‘Disgraceful behaviour’
However, Crown solicitor Kasey Dillon pointed to the pre-sentence report, which had Tukere confirming he was still associated with the gang as of May 9.
“It’s rather ironic don’t you think,” the judge said in response, “that repetitively we get, almost by publicists for these gangs, this notion that they condemn the distribution of this nasty drug into our communities and yet repetitively we seem to get people in front of us associating with these gangs who, clearly by their guilty pleas, are doing just that.
“Rather ironic, don’t you think?” the judge asked Dillon.
Judge Cocurullo told Tukere that there were “a number of things that don’t add up”.
The Tribal Huk gang had previously “publicly condemned this drug and yet again we get somebody - you - dealing in a significant amount of meth and creating misery in your community”.
“Disgraceful behaviour, whatever you thought the need was.”
However, fortunately for Tukere, he’d secured a job.
“A strength of you personally is your work and employment,” the judge said, confirming that he’d give him an additional 10% discount off his guilty plea discount of 25%.
