KEY POINTS:
EXCLUSIVE - Police hunting the war medal thieves went to Mt Eden prison and raided two other addresses linked to prime suspects yesterday.
A search warrant was executed at Mt Eden prison where a suspect - who can be known only as W because of a court order - has been held on other charges since three days after the December 2 theft of the 96 medals from Waiouru Army museum.
W is a convicted criminal who was on bail when the medals were stolen, having struck a deal with police over a Goldie painting and other artefacts taken in a similar crime.
The Herald also found detectives searching the home of a joint suspect with W - known as K - in West Auckland yesterday.
They left the address in two plain cars registered to the central police district in Palmerston North where the hunt for the thieves, codenamed Operation Valour, is based.
One car was carrying a computer's hard drive.
The third search warrant was for a private address in the greater Auckland area.
The officer leading the hunt for the thieves, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Bensemann, would not comment last night when asked if it was the former home of W.
Mr Bensemann said no arrests had been made.
W and K are the medals theft suspects, criminal and legal sources say.
At an Auckland District Court hearing in October last year - six weeks before the medals theft - W struck an elaborate deal with police over the return of the Goldie painting and other artefacts stolen from the University of Auckland.
He returned the painting after three of four fraud-related charges were dropped against him, and he was set free on bail before a sentencing due to take place on December 5 - three days after the theft.
K, whose occupation is listed as a tradesman, was not at home during yesterday's search.
His partner was at the home with three young children. She would not say where he was.
It is understood K and W have known each other since they were at high school in West Auckland 20 years ago.
They are jointly accused of another crime, and K has been out on bail on these charges.
Police have defended the Goldie deal with W, saying the only leniency they showed him was dropping the three fraud-related charges and that he was never held in custody for them.
But court documents seen by the Herald show they also agreed to not charge him in relation with the University of Auckland burglary - committed in the 2006-7 Christmas break - something the judge sentencing him on the remaining charge said was "in itself a considerable reward".
"Plainly it would seem to me you must have been if not part of the action then well-known to those who were, and at least in peril of prosecution as a receiver," said Judge Phil Gittos.
* THE KEY PLAYERS
"W": A leading suspect, he was free on bail when medals were stolen on December 2 after striking a deal with police over the return of a Goldie painting taken in an earlier crime. He was put in Mt Eden prison for another crime three days after the medals theft and has been there since. Has 84 fraud convictions and 55 for burglary.
"K": A joint suspect, his west Auckland home was raided by police yesterday. He is understood to have been friends with W since they were teenagers, and they are alleged to have been accomplices in another crime, for which he is now on bail. Whereabouts unknown yesterday.
Daniel William Crichton: Leading gang figure who got a bail-for-medals deal on January 21. He spent the weeks beforehand in Mt Eden prison with his known associate W.
Chris Comeskey: The lawyer who claimed credit for brokering the return of the medals this month. It has since been revealed he was involved in W's earlier Goldie deal, and was representing Crichton on serious drugs charges when his bail deal was struck.
