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Thursday, 20 August 2020


COMANCHERO GANG RAIDS: PRESIDENT'S BROTHER PLEADS GUILTY

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Vetekina Naufahu admitted the purchase of his late-model Range Rover worth
$150,000 was money laundering. Photo: Supplied
Vetekina Naufahu joins two other senior members of the Comanchero motorcycle
gang in admitting charges of money laundering and participating in an organised
criminal group following the covert police investigation Operation Nova.



A senior Comanchero gang member has admitted charges of money laundering and
participating in an organised criminal group, just weeks before his trial was
due to start.

Vetekina Naufahu pleaded guilty to three charges at a High Court hearing this
morning, held by audio-visual link because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland.

The money laundering charge relates to his late-model Range Rover, worth around
$150,000, while the organised crime charge carries the most significant penalty
of up to 10 years in prison.

Naufahu - whose brother Pasilika is the president of the New Zealand chapter of
the Australian motorcycle gang - also pleaded guilty to possession of MDMA, or
Ecstasy, which is a Class-B controlled drug.

Justice Sally Fitzgerald convicted Naufahu of the three offences and scheduled a
sentencing date of October 23, 2020, alongside his fellow Comanchero Jarome
Fonua.



Senior Comancheros Tyson Daniels, left, and Jarome Fonua have pleaded guilty to
money laundering and participating in an organised criminal group. Photo:
Supplied
Last week, the gang's treasurer Fonua also pleaded guilty to money laundering
and participating in an organised criminal group.



The late admissions come shortly before the pair were due to stand trial at the
High Court in September, along with other members of the gang and their
associates on charges laid in April 2019 following Operation Nova.

Vetekina and Fonua now join Tyson Daniels, the gang's vice-president, and
Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson in being convicted of laundering criminal
profits.

Nearly $1.3 million in cash was deposited into the lawyer's trust account, which
was then used to purchase expensive cars and property.

For Daniels alone, there were four Range Rovers - with price tags of $175,000,
$255,000, $218,000 and $280,000 - a $200,000 Mercedes-Benz, a Lamborghini for
$285,000, and two Rolls-Royces, which cost $364,000 and $595,000.



Tyson Daniels, in the gold Versace top, and Auckland lawyer Andrew Simpson at
their sentencing hearing in February 2020. Photo: Michael Craig
A charge of participating in an organised criminal group between May 2017 and
April 2019 was also admitted by Daniels, who was living in the affluent Auckland
suburb of Mellons Bay until his arrest in April last year.



In sentencing Daniels - who was wearing a Versace top in Comanchero colours of
black and gold - to four years and eight months in prison, Justice Gerard van
Bohemen said the senior gang member played a crucial role overseeing the gang's
operations for significant personal gain.

The offending was sophisticated, said Justice van Bohemen, with encrypted
devices used to avoid detection by police.

Money was deposited at banks in amounts less than $10,000, in a bid to avoid
triggering the banks' reporting threshold, then funnelled through trust and
company accounts to disguise their criminal origins.

"You clearly knew the money was derived from significant importation of drugs."

More than $1.2m in cash was deposited into Simpson's trust account at his law
practice, which was also used to purchase some of the cars belonging to Daniels
and allegedly others in the gang, as well as real estate such as a $1.3m home in
Auckland.

Justice van Bohemen said Simpson was the facilitator of the money-laundering
scheme, who used his specialist skills and knowledge as a lawyer.

"You made it work. You set up the trusts and lent respectability, as a lawyer,
to a criminal organisation."

Simpson was reckless and brought the legal profession into disrepute, however,
the judge was satisfied he was genuine in his remorse.

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Despite this, Simpson was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.

"I deeply regret a father being separated from his family. However, that is a
consequence of your decisions."

Neither man was charged with drug offences.



A New Zealand chapter of the Comancheros gang was established in 2018 after
members were deported from Australia. Photo: Supplied
But the police allege the Comanchero, an Australian gang which set up shop in
New Zealand after a number of senior members were deported here, are behind
significant drug smuggling linked to a Mexican cartel.



In July, a 60-year-old man who travelled to Mexico was sentenced to 16 years in
prison after pleading guilty to four charges of importing a Class A drug after
being identified in Operation Nova.

Tallat Rahman, from Suva, was arrested in February 2019 in the first phase of
the inquiry, which discovered how parcels of methamphetamine weighing up to 5kg
were hidden inside kitchen appliances shipped from the United States.

Once in New Zealand, the police allege the drugs were distributed by "frontmen"
for the Comanchero, whose hierarchy allegedly reaped the rewards of the illicit
trade.

Rahman was unknown to the team of detectives running Operation Nova until he was
overheard talking to one of the "frontmen", who cannot be named for legal
reasons, whose phone conversations were bugged by police.



The Comancheros posted photographs on Instagram to announce the establishment of
a New Zealand chapter. Photo: Supplied
He said: "You're going to start off with a nice number with two zeroes. I'm
going to land it between you and me ... [I'll give you] all the f***en work you
can handle. We're going to land it there [in New Zealand]."



The cheap wholesale price of $120,000 per kilogram was agreed to by both
parties, in a deal the police believed would weigh at least 100kg ("a nice
number with two zeros").

The call was made in Mexico and the caller was identified as Rahman; a
Fijian-Indian who lived in Suva, who had dual Canadian citizenship and travelled
regularly to Mexico and the United States.

Everything went quiet until Rahman flew into Auckland International Airport on
December 18, 2018, and checked into a hotel on Queen St, the Four Points by
Sheraton.

Three days later, Rahman's son checked into the same hotel and was seen meeting
with another man, a 19-year-old Mexican national, who also cannot be identified
for legal reasons.

Two days before Christmas, December 23, 2018, Rahman left New Zealand but not
before receiving a backpack full of cash.

Around the same time, a consignment of a kitchen stovetops shipped from the
United States had been seized by Customs and examined. There was nearly 5kg of
methamphetamine inside.

Then in February 2019, two separate consignments from the United States - a
"waffle maker" and "coffee brewer"- were stopped at the border by Customs, each
containing 2.9kg of methamphetamine.



Vetekina Naufahu admitted the purchase of his late-model Range Rover worth
$150,000 was money laundering. Photo: Supplied
Rahman returned to New Zealand and was arrested by the National Organised Crime
Group, along with the 19-year-old from Mexico and a 33-year-old Chinese man
called Hui Wang. He was called the "Wire Guy" because he laundered hundreds of
thousands of dollars in cash in wire transfers overseas.



Search warrants were also executed at the home linked to Rahman in Suva where
Fijian Police discovered 39kg of cocaine, presumably destined for the Australian
and New Zealand markets. The haul was worth about $20m.

When brought in for questioning by police, Rahman claimed to be in New Zealand
on holiday.

When detectives told him that an audio device had been covertly installed in his
hotel room on Queen St, Rahman said: "Oh shit".

 

NZ Herald
 164 0 



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