This Holden HSV car was seized by police investigating the methamphetamine ring in Operation Kingsville in Waikato in late 2020. Photo / NZ Police
This Holden HSV car was seized by police investigating the methamphetamine ring in Operation Kingsville in Waikato in late 2020. Photo / NZ Police
The police are coming after nearly $1 million of meth supplier Alan McQuade’s assets - but he has already lost the battle to keep his “forever car” - a modified Holden said to contain his dead father’s ashes.
The black 2013 Holden HSV Clubsport R8 with the registration plate NSANE8 is described as having “sentimental value” for the jailed drug manufacturer.
McQuade “always wanted to own a vehicle like this”, his partner, Emnah Tritar, told the courts.
The 50-year-old is currently serving a jail sentence of five years and three months for his part in the drug ring.
He was sentenced in 2022 after pleading guilty to manufacturing methamphetamine, possessing materials to manufacture meth, supplying meth, and participating in an organised criminal group.
Police seized five vehicles belonging to McQuade and Tritar, among others that they confiscated when they wrapped up Operation Kingsville targeting the large-scale drugs racket in 2020.
The vehicles were taken away under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 - a law that aims to fight organised and serious crime by depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains.
The law requires a further court order before seized assets can be forfeited to the Crown. Until that happens, confiscated vehicles are stored at a cost of about $5000 each a year.
The police often seek the courts’ permission to sell off vehicles before the final forfeiture orders are made, to gain maximum value from depreciating assets and save on the storage costs.
McQuade had given up trying to hold on to three of his vehicles, including a Jeep Wrangler and another Holden HSV which was more valuable than the one he fought to keep.
But he and Tritar have gone all the way to the Court of Appeal trying to reverse an early sale order issued in the High Court over the NSANE8 Holden, and a 1990 Toyota Coaster minibus that they wanted to convert to a house bus.
Forfeiture orders sought over $953,000 of assets
Court documents reveal that police are seeking forfeiture orders for McQuade’s property worth a total of more than $953,000.
The “forever car” is worth a fraction of that. It was said to be valued at $55,000 when it was seized in 2020, but it is depreciating quickly - police cited an Inland Revenue schedule that would knock off a third of its value every year.
A specialist vehicle broker inspected it and estimated it had a realisable wholesale value of $20,000 to $25,000.
The car had been damaged in an accident and it cannot be economically restored to extract more value.
“There is nothing particularly unique about this vehicle,” according to High Court Justice Mark Woolford.
Alan McQuade also had a Jeep seized when Operation Kingsville ended. Photo / NZ Police
But McQuade’s lawyers had argued it had sentimental value and Tritar - although not McQuade - had given evidence that it contained some of the ashes of McQuade’s father, who died in 2017.
“The circumstances around ‘some of’ Mr McQuade’s father’s ashes being ‘in the vehicle’ are unclear,” Justice Woolford said.
“No ashes were identified when the vehicle was seized, notwithstanding a thorough examination, but it is to be assumed that some of his ashes were scattered inside the vehicle.”
Justice Woolford made an early-sale order for all of the seized vehicles, but McQuade and Tritar then launched the appeal to the higher court to retain the NSANE8 Holden and the Toyota minibus, worth about $13,500.
The Court of Appeal this week rejected McQuade and Tritar’s bid.
“We are satisfied that the [High Court] Judge did not err when he directed the Official Assignee to sell the vehicles,” the Court of Appeal judges said.
The substantive hearing into the proposed seizure of all of McQuade’s assets considered to be the proceeds of crime has yet to take place. It is unlikely to happen before next year.
Repairs done to low standard
The vehicle specialist who inspected the Holden found it had several mechanical and bodywork modifications, as well as evidence of accident damage.
He said that the bodywork was in reasonably poor condition, the exterior colour had been changed, a non-standard bonnet and sills had been fitted and repairs seemed to have been done to a low standard.
He described the interior as being in average condition with obvious wear and tear and noted that liners and the trim in the boot area had been removed.
Because of this, Tritar has argued, the Holden has become a collector’s item and is appreciating in value, rather than depreciating.
The Court of Appeal judges disagreed.
“On the evidence, the vehicle cannot be described as a collectors’ item and we do not consider that there is evidence of the Holden HSV having any particular non-monetary value to Mr McQuade.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME's Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke's Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
