A notorious international gang managed to smuggle a video camera inside New Zealand’s maximum-security prison to film themselves for a slickly produced film recently posted on social media.
The Comancheros are an Australian motorcycle club which established a chapter in Auckland five years ago, after more than a dozen members were deported as “501s” by Australian authorities.
Law enforcement agencies were concerned about the gang’s connections to international organised crime groups, as well as their more brazen attitude to violence, and the Comancheros soon stamped their mark on the local underworld.
Even though most of their founding members have been imprisoned for drug or money laundering offences since then, the “Comos” have kept growing in numbers and influence.
One of those leaders - the gang’s national president Pasilika Naufahu - recently starred in a Comancheros’ video posted to YouTube last month, despite serving a nine-year sentence as an inmate at Pāremoremo.
In grainy footage titled Super max facility, the 35-year-old can be seen leading a group of fellow prisoners in a haka, as well as posing in photographs labelled: “Free the Comanchero”.
When asked about the flagrant breach of prison security, the Department of Corrections said it became aware of the video shortly after it was posted to YouTube in April.
Neal Beales, the chief custodial officer, said staff were able to establish the haka footage was actually filmed inside Pāremoremo two years ago.
“In May 2021, our staff carried out targeted searches after becoming aware of suspicious behaviour in a high-security unit at Auckland Prison,” Beales said.
“They investigated and successfully seized a cell phone and camcorder as a result of these searches. The prisoner who was in possession of the items was charged with internal misconduct.”
Smuggled smartphones are frequently found on prisoners and present an ongoing problem for Corrections.
The Herald on Sunday last year revealed inmates were posting videos on popular social media apps like TikTok, prompting concerns from law enforcement that the posts glamourise a life of crime.
More seriously, there have been a number of cases of serving prisoners using mobile devices to run drug syndicates. The Herald on Sunday is aware that at least one senior Comanchero is facing active charges of allegedly arranging an importation of 50kg of methamphetamine, while behind bars.
Beales said prison authorities around the world face the problem of cell phones, and other contraband, being smuggled inside.
“Some prisoners go to extreme and elaborate lengths to introduce contraband into prison. Contraband may be concealed on a prisoner’s body when they come into the prison, posted in with mail or property, thrown over perimeter fencing, or smuggled into the prison by visitors.” Beales said.
“Sometimes prisoners place a significant amount of pressure on their partners, friends or associates to risk attempting to bring contraband into prison for them.”
Beales said Corrections staff work hard to stop contraband, which could jeopardise the safety of staff or security of sites, as well as trying to “stay one step ahead” of any new methods.
This included searching people and vehicles entering prison grounds, using scanners and x-ray machines at entry points, “extensive” perimeter security, camera surveillance in visiting rooms, checking mail, monitoring of phone calls, sniffer dogs and banning visitors.
“The safety and security of our sites is a top priority, and we will not tolerate the introduction of contraband into our prisons,” Beales said.
“When we receive information suggesting a prisoner is posting on social media, we urgently investigate to locate and seize any contraband, and hold the prisoners involved to account.”
The clip of the Comancheros inside Pāremoremo was edited into the gang’s National Run 2023 video, along with footage of members riding customised Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and driving Ferrari and Rolls-Royce cars.
They are one of a number of gangs who have taken to posting content on social media platforms in recent years, to portray their strength in numbers, flaunt their wealth, or poke fun at law enforcement.
While viewed as a recruitment tool, such videos or photographs also attract the attention of police.
In the past few years, the Comancheros have been relentlessly targeted by detectives in the National Organised Crime Group in a series of covert investigations.
The six founding members of the gang’s New Zealand chapter posed on gold-plated motorcycles in an infamous post to Instagram announcing their arrival. Five have now been convicted of money laundering, organised crime or drugs offences following two covert investigations, Operation Nova and Operation Cincinnati, while the sixth is awaiting trial on drug supply charges.
He was charged at the end of Operation Van, a long-running inquiry which eventually dovetailed with the so-called “Sting of the Century” led by the FBI and Australian Federal Police.
The law enforcement agencies tricked alleged organised figures around the world into using AN0M, an encrypted communication platform, on which they believed they could talk to each other freely.
In reality, AN0M had been built by the FBI and the AFP and the investigators were given backdoor access to millions of messages and photographs that criminal groups thought were impossible to intercept.
The incriminating communications were shared with 16 countries and Operation Trojan Shield was unveiled in June 2021 with more than 800 arrests and millions of dollars and tonnes of drugs seized.
This unprecedented treasure trove of intelligence included messages sent by Duax Ngakuru, the Kiwi-born “international commander” of the Comancheros living in Turkey, who allegedly sent hundreds of kilograms of drugs around the world.
More than 1200 charges were laid against 40 individuals in New Zealand including Ngakuru and senior members of the Mongrel Mob who defected to the Comancheros to set up a new Waikato chapter.
Police in New Zealand had sought assistance from Turkish authorities to extradite Ngakuru to stand trial. He was arrested in January but it seems Ngakuru will be deported to New Zealand on immigration grounds, rather than going through the extradition process in the Turkish courts.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.