Comanchero gang trial: dad told him ‘use your brain’ after texting defendant

By RNZ

The president of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club of New Zealand feared he would be arrested eight months before a major police raid and also suspected that the police were tapping his phone, a jury was informed.

Five people, including Chief Pasilika Naufahu, are on trial in Auckland High Court on drug, money laundering and organized crime charges.

Jurors have been told that the intercepted calls show coded conversations, discussions over hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the suspicion that the police had intercepted mobile phones.

Of the dozens of intercepted calls with nicknames and codes reproduced during the trial, none have involved the local Comancheros president so far.

On a Saturday morning in August 2018, months before the April 2019 raid, a person who police said was Naufahu’s father sent him a text message.

He talks about being able to pay $ 200,000 off a mortgage and spend the rest of his life on vacation around the world.

Thirty seconds later, police said her son, Naufahu, responded.

“Dad,” the text read, “don’t send me these,” then another, “I told you to use your brain.”

Then a minute later, a call came in.

The word puakas was translated by the police as “pigs”.

“Dad, don’t text me [sic] how that. You know that the puakas receive all my messages, “the text said.” Ok, delete, “was the reply.” No, it doesn’t matter if you delete … all my messages already [go] all to the puakas. I have told you so many times, do not send me messages, “the text said.

“Wait until you see me and then talk to me. How many times do I have to say? They’ll arrest me soon. I’m in a big case here.”

Encrypted messaging app discussed

The Crown said Naufahu told a person to download an encrypted messaging app and talks to his brother about how to get his father to use it.

Later, another recording includes the president of Comancheros speaking on the phone with a banking operator to request a credit card. He said he pays him $ 2,200 a week before taxes, the equivalent of $ 114,000 a year, for a company run by another defendant, which has name suppression.

Earlier in the case, the Crown said the company was used to pay “fake” wages to members of the comancheros to hide the true source of the gang’s wealth.

“That is my only income,” he told the bank teller.

Earlier, two other men, one of whom will be called as a witness, discussed the purchase of a plane and wondered if the particular model could fly from Auckland to Fiji without stopping to refuel.

The Crown produced other phone calls with microphones and photographic evidence of various people depositing small sums of money in various bank accounts.

In one, attorney Andrew Simpson, already convicted and jailed for money laundering, told another man that he could tell “the boys” that he had received a check for $ 100,000.

“I got a couple of checks today … you can inform the guys that … I have deposited those checks … around 100,000 in kiwis. I thought you’d be glad to hear.”

The defense has not yet heard their arguments. The trial continues tomorrow.