Operation Maddale: Bodybuilder Khalid Slaimankhel sentenced for Comancheros meth ring

A former Dunedin bodybuilder who said he turned to drugs and gangs after his physician father was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan was sent to prison today for his part in a major methamphetamine distribution operation.

Comancheros member Khalid Naser Slaimankhel, 32, was a high-ranking member of the gang who undercover officers observed picking up roughly 6kg of methamphetamine from a New Lynn used car dealership between November 2018 and March 2019.

He was one of the many people arrested amid a flurry of search warrants at the conclusion in 2019 of Operation Maddale, a 10-month investigation into a drug network in which the Comancheros and Head Hunters gangs were thought to control a significant portion of the supply chain.

Slaimankhel previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of possession of methamphetamine for supply, all of which carry a maximum possible sentence of up to life imprisonment, and one count of money laundering.

Khalid Naser Slaimankhel in a bodybuilding competition. Photo / Supplied

Auckland District Court Judge Evangelos Thomas ordered today that he serve concurrent sentences of six years' prison, taking into account the defendant's guilty pleas, his remorse and his fall from grace which defence lawyer Mark Ryan said was caused by the death of his father.

Dr Hashem Slaimankhel was a physician in Afghanistan and Pakistan before arriving in New Zealand in 1998 and taking on a role as a refugee health worker. His advocacy made enough of an impact on New Zealand that police issued a press release praising the "dedicated and deeply respected community leader" soon after his death in January 2018.

The elder Slaimankhel was among the nearly 100 people killed when an ambulance with a bomb inside detonated at a police checkpoint in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the massacre.

Supporters for the younger Slaimankhel filled the courtroom today as his lawyer described his client's downfall into drugs and gangs after the suicide blast, which Ryan described as the "trigger" for his offending. Ryan also pointed to an apology letter written by his client and Khalid Slaimankhel's significant steps at rehabilitation since his arrest.

Crown prosecutor Jacob Barry acknowledged that the defendant has said he now wants to leave gang life behind him. But he also noted that the defendant breached bail last October by being in contact with a fellow gang member.

"It's going to take an awful amount of work to make sure that is carried through," Barry said of any attempt to leave the gang.

Judge Thomas seemed to agree.

After Khalid Slaimankhel was sentenced and led out of the courtroom by security to begin serving his sentence, the judge turned his attention to his supporters in the courtroom. He thanked them for showing up for the hearing but also encouraged them to continue their support after his eventual release from prison.

"If people aren't working hard around him, he's going to be straight into that [gang] environment," the judge warned. "This work is really only beginning now."