Seiana Fakaosilea was leader of the Comancheros gang in 2020 when prosecutors say he conspired with others to import 600kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand from South Africa. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Seiana Fakaosilea was leader of the Comancheros gang in 2020 when prosecutors say he conspired with others to import 600kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand from South Africa. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Methamphetamine sales were among the many markets thrown into upheaval by supply chain issues as the world reeled from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a police officer with decades of experience infiltrating the criminal underworld told jurors today.
Detective Sgt Mike Beal, who has been a part of law enforcement's National Organised Crime Group for 24 years, was called to testify in the High Court at Auckland for the trial of Comancheros gang leader Seiana Fakaosilea and three others accused of conspiring to import a massive haul of drugs into New Zealand in 2020.
Prosecutors say detectives were listening in via a covertly placed bug in Fakaosilea's Toyota Corolla in March 2020 - part of a months-long investigation into the Comancheros and Rebels gangs dubbed Operation Cincinnati - when he discussed through stilted, coded speech a plan with co-defendant Jie Huang to import 600kg of methamphetamine from South Africa.
Authorities don't know if such a shipment ever landed in New Zealand, but merely planning for such a shipment is enough to be charged with conspiracy to import the Class A drug, Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey said earlier this week as the trial began.
The going wholesale rate for a kilogram of meth varied widely in 2020, but the average price that year was probably around $160,000 to $200,000, said Beal, who was not involved in Operation Cincinnati and testified only as an expert on drug matters. That would have put the value of the alleged meth haul at between $96 million and $120 million.
"There are enough vendors in the market now that people can shop around," he explained, adding that methamphetamine prices are constantly changing based on quality and supply.
What is consistent, he said, is that New Zealand is one of the two most lucrative meth markets in the world in terms of profit margin - making the country an attractive spot for suppliers despite the relatively small population.
The market fluctuation for methamphetamine during the first phase of the pandemic was seen at a more stark level in smaller amounts, the detective said, explaining that an ounce of P could sell for anywhere between $2500 and $10,000 that year.
That 400 per cent increase is akin to paying $20 for a cup of coffee that you might have paid $5 for the day before, noted lawyer Marie Taylor-Cyphers, who represents fellow Comancheros member or associate Taniela Mafileo.
Defendant Taniela Mafileo is on trial in the High Court at Auckland accused of four methamphetamine-related charges. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Also called to testify as an expert today was Det Sgt Bruce Howard, who discussed the ways in which drug dealers speak in code and use encrypted communication devices.
During a search of Fakaosilea's home as Operation Cincinnati ended, police located a Ciphr phone under a mattress. Such phones are reconfigured using an encryption platform so that police can't gain access to them even with a warrant. They cost between $2000 and $4000 for six months and they can't be found on the internet, he said.
The only way to get such a phone is to know another Ciphr user who can vouch for you with a dealer, he said.
But investigators occasionally catch a break, he said, when drug dealers get lazy - taking photos of their Ciphr phone messages and sending the photo to others over unencrypted networks.
Howard also spoke about the usage of the words "tea bag", "AAA" and "K1", all of which Fakaosilea was secretly recorded using in conversations with associates. While those terms might not make much sense to those uninitiated to the methamphetamine underground, they're not surprising to organised crime investigators, he said.
"We've had a number of cases where methamphetamine has been imported into New Zealand secreted in [tea] packaging," he said, explaining they have all been labelled as some form of Chinese green tea.
During one operation in which investigators tracked 150kg of methamphetamine, most of the tea boxes had "AAA" written on them with felt pens, he said. Other packaging in the past, he said, has been marked with "K1".
Det Beal agreed with his colleague that speaking in codes is "extremely common" in New Zealand's drug trade - especially, he said, since 2002, when police developed the ability to listen in on cellphone calls when given permission from a judge.
Richard Pelikani is on trial in the High Court at Auckland, accused of conspiring with others to import 600kg of methamphetamine from South Africa. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Lawyer Scott McColgan, who represents co-defendant Richard Pelikani, suggested that the code could be so intricate that numbers are substituted and investigators are left in the dark about the actual amounts of drugs that are being discussed.
