Over those two days, Carter sent messages and made phone calls, helping to co-ordinate and plan the attack.<\/p>\n
It was Carter\u2019s idea to \u201chit them\u201d during the poroporoaki, and he was involved in attempting to get hold of \u201chotties\u201d, a term for stolen vehicles, and firearms.<\/p>\n
Other members allegedly had different roles in the planned attack \u2013 some responsible for supplying the firearms and ammunition, some tasked as lookouts, feeding back updates and photos during the early stages of the tangi.<\/p>\n
Some were assigned the roles of shooters.<\/p>\n
Carter got the word out about a meeting in \u014cp\u014dtiki, for members and prospects to discuss and plan the attack, and decide how to respond to Black Power being in their perceived territory.<\/p>\n
He asked a fellow gang member if he had a .22 calibre rifle, and any \u201cmachine guns\u201d.<\/p>\n
On another call, he discussed a member of the gang who was \u201cgoing through issues\u201d in his life and was possibly suicidal.<\/p>\n
A 3D-printed pistol was among six firearms seized across the North Island as part of Operation Highwater. <\/p>\n
Carter discussed \u201cusing that to their advantage\u201d by sending the member \u201con a suicide mission\u201d.<\/p>\n
But police thwarted the plans, drastically increasing the police presence in \u014cp\u014dtiki during the tangi, not through luck or coincidence, but because they were listening to the Mob\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
The National Organised Crime Group had been surveilling a network of Mongrel Mob Barbarians<\/a> since late 2023, in a targeted drug-supply operation, code-named Operation Highwater<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, Carter has pleaded guilty to 39 charges that relate to the operation, including some relating to the planned shooting, which was allegedly orchestrated by another member with Carter in a \u201csenior role\u201d.<\/p>\n The July tangi progressed without any inter-gang violence, but by October, police had got wind of another close call, this time about a potential gang confrontation at Whakat\u0101ne Hospital. <\/p>\n Again, no significant gang violence eventuated, but 12 days later, on October 22, 2024, police carried out more than 30 search warrants and arrested 28 people connected to the East Bay Barbarians.<\/p>\n Police also estimated they restrained assets totalling $800,000.<\/p>\n Those alleged to have been involved have been progressing through the court system for more than a year and Carter, who is in custody, is the most senior member to enter guilty pleas. <\/p>\n This week, NZME was provided with the Crown\u2019s summary of facts, which detailed Carter\u2019s involvement, including violence, methamphetamine dealing, and cannabis cultivation.<\/p>\n Carter\u2019s role in North Island meth supply<\/p>\n Carter facilitated the distribution of methamphetamine throughout the North Island \u2013 mainly in the Waikato region, including Hamilton and the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty, and Wellington, throughout 2024. <\/p>\n He sold methamphetamine in ounce quantities to those beneath him in the chain. <\/p>\n Between early 2023 and April 30, 2024, he was working for a more senior gang member, and during that time, he offered, possessed and supplied 169.5g.<\/p>\n From April 30, 2024, he began running a new operation, supplying former street dealers without the oversight of the more senior Mob member.<\/p>\n During this period, he supplied 642g of methamphetamine, totalling 811.5g between January 2023 and the conclusion of the police operation.<\/p>\n The summary of facts details the messages he sent, and phone calls he made as he co-ordinated buyers and sellers, drop-offs and pick-ups.<\/p>\n In one, he offered to supply an ounce for $5500 over the following three weeks, and then drop the price to $5000 per ounce after that. <\/p>\n In another exchange, he texted an associate to meet in the McDonald\u2019s carpark in Rototuna to pick up cash, before offering to \u201cflick some old school\u201d, which police said was an offer to supply an unknown amount of New Zealand-made meth.<\/p>\n Other references were made to \u201can old one\u201d, which also referred to New Zealand-made meth.<\/p>\n An \u2018isolated area in the Urewera Forest\u2019, and a DoC Hut controlled by the Mob<\/p>\n Between October 2023 and October 2024, Carter was part of a group of East Bay Barbarians that controlled an \u201cisolated area in the remote Urewera Forest\u201d, about 800m from the T\u0101whana marae. <\/p>\n Within the area was the Department of Conservation\u2019s Te Pourewa Hut. <\/p>\n According to the summary of facts, the group used the area for growing, harvesting, drying and manicuring a commercial quantity of cannabis plants, and Carter was involved in the cultivation and harvest of no fewer than 208 mature cannabis plants between October 2023 and May 2024.<\/p>\n The summary said the Te Pourewa Hut had been illegally controlled by the group, and was used for hanging and drying the cannabis. <\/p>\n Carter assisted in the cultivation by boring holes in the ground for seedlings.<\/p>\n The cannabis was then sold in ounce and pound quantities.<\/p>\n During a phone call, Carter had explained the benefit of diversifying into selling cannabis, as well as methamphetamine, as it was the same amount of profit and \u201cless lag\u201d, referring to jail time. <\/p>\n Carter, aka \u2018Tarmz Dog\u2019, egged on to \u2018smoke this c*** dog\u2019<\/p>\n The summary also includes details of a serious assault in March 2023, when two separate factions of the Mongrel Mob were at an \u014cp\u014dtiki address and were having \u201cone-on-one\u201d fights, while about 12 people looked on.<\/p>\n An unidentified gang member, referred to as complainant A, was fighting another man, before Carter subbed in. <\/p>\n He began punching and kicking complainant A, as the previous captain of the East Bay Barbarians, the late Steven Taiatini, allegedly egged him on, saying, \u201cF***en in there Tarmz Dog, smoke this c*** dog\u201d.<\/p>\n The summary said Carter was also known as \u201cTarmz Dog\u201d.<\/p>\n The attack continued, with others joining in at one point, and Carter later stomped on Complainant A\u2019s abdomen and kicked him in the face. <\/p>\n When the beating ended, the man was bleeding from the mouth and nose, and had a swollen eye.<\/p>\n Carter\u2019s phone call to police, and a Black Power burglary<\/p>\n On the morning of October 10, 2024, another gang member was in Whakat\u0101ne Hospital, where there were also Black Power members present.<\/p>\n Carter was made aware of Black Power\u2019s presence, and an alleged assault by an East Bay Barbarians member on a Black Power member.<\/p>\n A request was made for \u201call the members\u201d to come to the Barbarian\u2019s assistance, and to bring firearms, as there were senior members of Black Power in cars at the hospital. <\/p>\n Carter made an anonymous call to police at 11.45am to report a gang conflict at Whakat\u0101ne Hospital, involving his friend.<\/p>\n Police and hospital security attended the incident and ensured the groups remained separated.<\/p>\n But about 12.20pm, Carter went, allegedly with others, to a property in \u014cp\u014dtiki and smashed the front door glass.<\/p>\n Cupboards were searched and things were thrown about, including a container of oysters that had been at the entrance. <\/p>\n Four Black Power hoodies, a Black Power patch and a PlayStation were taken from the address. <\/p>\n Carter, in conversation with his associate at the hospital, referred to having \u201cfive trophies\u201d, and said he had spilt oysters in the house. <\/p>\n Police made arrests and search warrants just 12 days after this incident, terminating Operation Highwater on October 23.<\/p>\n Carter initially faced more charges, but in the process of resolution, some were withdrawn, some amended, and some combined as representative charges.<\/p>\n He has now pleaded guilty to 39 charges, and will remain in custody until his sentencing in August. <\/p>\n Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over those two days, Carter sent messages and made phone calls, helping to co-ordinate and plan the attack.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16489,33484,7022,2220,169803,78,4281,4280,111,43,139,69,36095,10112,205,5843,7819,134129],"class_list":["post-330449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-admits","tag-barbarian","tag-black","tag-carter","tag-drugdealing","tag-in","tag-mob","tag-mongrel","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-plot","tag-power","tag-role","tag-senior","tag-shooting","tag-tamati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Superintendent Tim Anderson and Detective Superintendent Greg Williams held a media conference for Operation Highwater in Tauranga, in October 2024.<\/p>\n
A large quantity of cannabis was seized during search warrants as part of Operation Highwater in the North Island. <\/p>\n