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They told a court that an associate of the Comanchero gang drove through Auckland with a million dollars in cash to buy a class B pseudoephedrine, before the deal fell through at the last minute, yards from completion.
The president of the Comancheros, Pasilika Naufahu.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Five people linked to the gang are on trial in Auckland High Court on 11 counts of drugs, organized crime and money laundering, including President Pasilika Naufahu.
They were arrested in April 2019 during a major police raid. The raids seized nearly $ 4 million in assets, including luxury cars and property.
Along with three counts of money laundering, Comancheros president Pasilika Naufahu is charged with conspiring to commit two drug-related crimes: one of conspiring to import a class A drug and the other of conspiring to supply a drug. class B.
The Crown alleged that in September 2018 Naufahu arranged for his now co-defendant Connor Clausen to complete the final stage of a pseudoephedrine deal: exchanging the money for the drugs.
Crown prosecutor David Johnstone told the jury that at a prearranged location in the Auckland suburb of Takanini, the two parties were arrested: Clausen with $ 1 million, the other party with a “substantial” amount of pseudoephedrine, a precursor to methamphetamine.
“Parked on the side of a road in Takanini, Connor Clausen pulled up in front of [a third party] but for one reason or another, although there were movements to deliver the million dollars in cash at that stage, the deal did not go through. “
Details of the allegations, including the bugged phone calls and visual surveillance, will be described in more detail for the jury later in the trial.
“It will be up to you to consider the evidence that the Crown can present on this deal (the roadside deals in Takanini) and determine if you are certain that Mr. Naufahu was a party to a settlement.” about a million dollars of pseudoephedrine, and whether Mr. Clausen was part of a deal, “Johnstone said.
Connor Clausen is also on trial.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
The prosecutor said the Crown would call a witness, who has now been convicted of importing methamphetamine, to testify.
That will be in connection with a separate charge against Naufahu, one of conspiracy to import a class A drug, which was methamphetamine or cocaine. The Crown wasn’t sure which one, but both are class A drugs and fall into the same legal category.
The prosecution said that this man had an import agreement with Naufahu that failed, so he carried it out himself and was ultimately charged.
“So I hope you are in a position to describe how you had a deal trying to set up a drug import. I hope I can tell you how you talked to Mr. Naufahu about that idea, and how interested Mr. Naufahu was. and he actually reached an agreement that would help with the process, “Johnstone said.
The first two witnesses were called this afternoon.
One is a man whose identity cannot be revealed: he was a director of a company with ties to a defendant, a media personality. The Crown said that this company paid a mock salary to Naufahu to disguise the true source of its wealth.
Johnstone said the witness joined the company as a manager, then became a director, and used his credit rating, which was better than the defendant’s, to purchase equipment for the company.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.
