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RICKY WILSON / THINGS
Pasilika Naufahu arrived in New Zealand and quickly set out to establish the Comancheros, says the Crown.
The intercepted communications between a man and an Australian hairdresser who allegedly orchestrated a $ 1 million pseudoephedrine drug deal for the chairman of the Comanchero gang have been played out in court.
A trial involving drug and money laundering charges against Comanchero president Pasilika Naufahu, Connor Michael Tamati Clausen, accountant Wiwini Himi Hakaraia, a name-suppressing media personality, and a woman also with name-suppression , is in his third week in Auckland High Court.
All five were arrested following a series of raids in Auckland in April 2019 in which more than $ 3.7 million in assets were seized along with luxury cars, motorcycles, high-end luggage and jewelry.
On Thursday, Detective Sergeant Damian Espinosa provided more details on Naufahu’s surveillance regarding charges related to the conspiracy to supply pseudoephedrine.
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Australian hairdresser He Sha was jailed earlier this year after he admitted crossing the Tasman to sell pseudoephedrine. The deal never went through.
Naufahu and Clausen are charged along with Sha and the brother of a man who, according to the Crown, is the “heart of the case” of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine.
Sha arrived in New Zealand from Sydney on September 15, 2018; three days later, the other associate arrived in the country.
John Weekes / Stuff-co-nz
He Sha was sentenced in Auckland District Court earlier this year.
That man cannot be identified as he is awaiting trial on various drug charges.
Communications intercepted since September 20, 2018 from an audio device installed in a vehicle were transmitted to the jury on Thursday.
In the recording, the frustrated man with Sha can be heard talking about a “deal” with which he can win almost half a million dollars.
“In New Zealand, time is the business, if f … time, you never make money in this business,” says the man.
“This is the largest gang in New Zealand, if you get reported on the street, no one comes close to you.”
The man continues to tell Sha about the “richest man in the country” who has a billion dollars.
NZ POLICE
Several vehicles were seized in the April 2019 police raids.
After stopping at a cafe, the couple return to the vehicle and the man can be heard telling Sha that the area “is one of the most heavily guarded areas in the country … all gang squad.”
Later that afternoon, the man is heard telling Sha to “tell the guy who came with the pseudo to drop it in the trunk.”
“Go to the back of the car and put it in the trunk,” says the man.
Later that day, the man yells at Sha that he is wasting his time and that he is going to “screw up the deal.”
“Your pseudo is worth nothing without his money,” says the man.
Soon after, Sha talks to someone on the phone and tells the man that “your boss canceled.”
“No more games… it’s over a million dollars. They do not want to arrive if the pseudo is not here ”, the man responds.
The day before, the man was observed leaving a Karaka address on a ute, Detective Sgt. Damian Espinosa said.
Officers then observed that the ute was parked in Howick alongside a white Range Rover. Soon after, police saw the man and Naufahu sitting at the Howick Village Cafe.
The couple broke up before the man made multiple stops and took photos of his car before he was seen meeting Sha and the couple also made multiple stops around town.
STUFF
Members of the Comanchero motorcycle gang have been arrested in Auckland. (First published April 2019)
THE CHARGES
Naufahu has denied conspiring to import a class A drug, conspiring to supply class B pseudoephedrine and three counts of money laundering.
Clausen is charged with conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine, a class B drug.
The media personality is charged with participating in an organized criminal group and two counts of money laundering.
Hakaraia has denied participating in an organized criminal group; two counts of possession of a class A drug for supply, namely cocaine and methamphetamine; and three counts of money laundering.
The woman has also denied having participated in a money laundering transaction.
The trial is scheduled for four weeks before a jury and Judge Graham Lang.
