Police have now obtained a final forfeiture order from the court, meaning the ownership of the money is transferred to the Crown.
The latest decision is the result of protracted civil court action which ran alongside the criminal prosecutions of the gang members involved.
Previous cases taken against gang members under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 following Operation Silk have led to the confiscation of money, vehicles and jewellery.
The latest police application was taken nominally against gang president Jim “JD” Thacker, who is serving a prison term of 22 years and four months for 40 convictions including possessing methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy for supply.
However, the total sum includes a stash of $44,640 seized from a Pāpamoa house linked to Leon “the Wolf” Huritu, the Mongols’ sergeant-at-arms.
Huritu is serving a 15-year term for drug-dealing and his involvement in the Waikeria Prison riot at New Year 2021, which caused $50 million worth of damage.
Other gang members have been named in connection to the rest of the seized money, but none has come forward to claim it.
Cash was found in a sock drawer and seized by Bay of Plenty police during Operation Silk in 2020. Photo / NZ Police
In the latest application, police said the “profit-driven illicit activities of the gang” were used to fund further illegal activity and buy assets.
These assets then came under the control of Thacker and another senior gang member.
“The cash which is the subject of the application was seized from respondents other than Mr Thacker; however, the commissioner [of police] attributes it to Mr Thacker on the basis of his position within the gang,” the High Court decision in the case said.
“In particular, the persons who were in possession of the cash at the time the police seized it have made no claim to the cash, and there is no legitimate explanation from them as to the provenance of the cash.
“There is no opposition from any respondent or interested party to the application for forfeiture.”
Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith said she was satisfied that the cash was “tainted property” able to be forfeited under the criminal proceeds recovery law.
“There is more than sufficient evidence that the Mongols Motorcycle Gang was involved in serious criminal offending and, on the balance of probabilities, that the cash located is part of the proceeds of that criminal offending,” Justice Wilkinson-Smith said.
She issued the forfeiture order vesting the money in the possession of the Crown.
It will now be added to a fund administered by the Ministry of Justice, from where it can be allocated to approved organisations working to offset the harm caused by criminal offending.
Before Operation Silk, the Mongols provoked gang conflict in the Bay of Plenty and Christchurch after influential members were deported from Australia and established chapters in New Zealand.
A violent turf war between the Mongols and other motorcycle gangs in Tauranga – with at least six shootings – broke out over control of the local drug trade.
The public nature of the shootings and associated fire-bombings was reminiscent of the Sydney gang wars in Australia, where many of the Mongols were deported from as “501s”.
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 frontline experience as a probation officer.
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