Trial of the president of the Comancheros: the jury hears calls intercepted by the police

Police surveillance in an operation against the comancheros included hundreds of calls and text messages intercepted in a larger group, a court has heard.

The chairman of the New Zealand chapter of the Pasilika Naufahu gang is on trial in Auckland High Court on charges of money laundering and drug conspiracy.

Naufahu and others were arrested last year in a high-profile police raid that followed an undercover investigation dubbed Operation Nova.

Also on trial are Comanchero Connor Michael Tamati Clausen, accountant Wiwini Himi Hakaraia, and a woman and a media personality who both have name suppression.

Today, Detective Sergeant Damian Espinosa told jury that police surveillance had included seeing the gang leader meet a money handler in March 2018 at a Bucklands Beach park.

Crown prosecutor David Johnstone has previously said that this money handler was at the “heart of the case” in the Comanchero gang investigation.

During questioning, Naufahu’s defense attorney Ron Mansfield challenged any police description of what his client was doing on his phone in the park as an assumption.

Naufahu could have been doing an internet search, emailing, dialing a number, scrolling through various social media, or just playing with it, Mansfield said.

“Let’s face it, he could have been doing a lot of things when he was using this cell phone.”

A more appropriate police record would simply say that he was using his cell phone, he said.

Police intercepted calls with Fijian associates, the court heard, involving the same money handler in New Zealand.

On July 12, 2018, the money handler told one of those associates that he had spoken to the “president of the market here, you know what I mean?”

The other replied: “I know all the code words brother, yes.”

The money handler went on to say that they had created a company for Cassava, which according to the Crown is a code name for drugs.

The jury heard yet more calls between the money manager and then-Auckland attorney Andrew Simpson.

In a conversation they can be heard talking about dropping “apples” into baskets if nine are placed in each drop.

In another, Simpson said in drops that fewer than 10 bank employees weren’t going to be worried.

He said if the deposit was deposited into Simpson’s trust account “they would gladly accept it.”

“They will ask for your identification but they will not mark it,” he said.

The court heard a call on July 11, 2018, in which Simpson told the money manager that he was about to “pass the bank” to do his part.

“I’ll be ready for this afternoon,” he said.

The money manager wanted it to be quick “so he can get rid of it today.”

Later that day, he called the lawyer again: “Hello friend. Sorry, sorry to bother you but ah.”

“Okay,” Simpson replied.

I got a message “from the brother” because I was waiting at the car dealership, the man said.

“Yeah yeah, he thought it would be done before lunch today,” he said.

“He wants to do that as soon as he wants, could he ah, transfer it, oh, to them …”

“I’ll do that now,” Simpson said, after texting that he had put 100 into an account.

In a call between the same couple on July 17, 2018, the money handler asked how to buy a car for a man she didn’t mention by name and if he could put it in the trust’s name.

“It’s kind of embarrassing if uh, you know, they catch him speeding or something,” the attorney said, adding that he would get the violation notice.

It would be “a bit silly” for a trust to own a car, the attorney said, since those things really should be in one person’s name.

The accusations

Naufahu faces charges of conspiracy to import a Class A drug and conspiracy to supply a Class B drug, as well as three counts of money laundering.

The money laundering charges relate to the purchase of a Ford Ranger, Bentley and Jacon SG3 Trailer concrete pump, which together total more than $ 212,700.

Hakaraia is charged with participating in an organized criminal group, two counts of possession of a class A drug for supply and three counts of money laundering.

Clausen is charged with conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine, a class B drug.

A media personality, who has name suppression, faces one count of participation in an organized criminal group and two counts of money laundering.

The money laundering charges relate to the purchase of two concrete pumps for a total of $ 439,700.

The latest defendant, who also has name suppression, faces a money laundering charge by depositing more than $ 292,000 in cash into various bank accounts.

The trial, which began Monday, is expected to last four weeks and be chaired by Judge Graham Lang.