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Comancheros gang leader Seiana Fakaosilea was driving through Auckland in his Toyota Corolla in March 2020 when authorities allege he hatched a plan to import 600kg of methamphetamine - a massive haul worth roughly $90 million - into New Zealand from South Africa.
What he didn't realise, Crown prosecutor Robin McCoubrey told a jury today in the High Court at Auckland, was that police were listening in as well, thanks to a covertly placed device in his car.
Fakaosilea, 22, is on trial alongside Jie Huang, who prosecutors allege was on the other end of the call that day, and Comancheros members or associates Richard Pelikani and Taniela Mafileo.
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
The defendants were arrested in 2020 at the end of Operation Cincinnati, a months-long police investigation into the distribution of illegal drugs by the Comancheros in Auckland and the Rebels gang in Christchurch.
Fakaosilea pleaded guilty to multiple charges last week. But as his trial began today with opening statements, he said he is not guilty of six other charges - conspiring to import the meth haul from South Africa, conspiring to import an unknown amount of methamphetamine from Fiji, two counts of methamphetamine for supply, one count of supplying 1kg of methamphetamine to one or more people and one count of possessing 15 grams of the drug.
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
Investigators had obtained a High Court judge's permission to bug suspects' phones and place listening devices in vehicles when they heard the conversation between Fakaosilea and Huang in which "600 keys" were mentioned, prosecutors said today.
"Mr Fakaosilea wants to see if anyone can help to bring it into New Zealand," McCoubrey explained. "The Crown prosecution cannot say when or whether the 600 kilos landed in New Zealand."
But just planning such a scheme - regardless of whether it was carried out - is enough for a conspiracy charge, he told jurors during his opening statement.
Prosecutors said they also intend to play recordings for jurors in which Fakaosilea discussed plans to rob or cheat Huang, who he referred to as Mango, of the South Africa and Fiji shipments. Much of the recorded conversations, McCoubrey said, are stilted and awkward. But that reflects the defendants talking in code just in case they were being listened to, he suggested.
Police also tracked what were described as drug runs between Auckland and Christchurch - two in March 2020 and another in August that year. During the August trip, prosecutors said, police watched a man leaving Albany with a black bag in a rented Rav 4.
They obtained a covert search warrant while the car was left unattended on the Interislander Ferry and methamphetamine was found. But they let him continue on his journey until he arrived at the Rebels gang pad in Christchurch, prosecutors said.
Defendant Taniela Mafileo is on trial in the High Court at Auckland accused of four methamphetamine-related charges. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Huang, Pelikani and Mafileo all pleaded not guilty today to participating in a conspiracy to import methamphetamine. Huang and Mafileo also pleaded not guilty to supplying methamphetamine and Huang pleaded not guilty to attempting to commit aggravated robbery.
The attempted robbery charge was spurred by a series of text messages from Huang in which McCoubrey said the defendant instructed Comancheros members to rob an Airbnb rental where drugs were being sold.
The robbery was intended as a "tax" for using Huang's and the Comancheros' names, prosecutors said, adding that police listening in got wind of the scheme in real-time so they scrambled to pull over the Comancheros members before they could go through with the plan.
During their own brief opening statements today, lawyers for the defendants urged jurors not to jump to conclusions or take everything prosecutors said about the group at face value.
Fakaosilea's lawyer, Jasper Rhodes, said the Crown was right about some of his client's misdeeds - including the drug dealing charges that he pleaded guilty to last week.
"He's pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges before you ... because while the Crown and police have some things right they have an enormous amount wrong," Rhodes said, asking jurors to put aside prejudices that might come with his client's senior position in a gang. "He is also a person with hopes, dreams, aspirations."
Prosecutors acknowledged the temptation to judge the defendants based on gang associations but agreed it would be improper.
