Bikies banished from Australia reshaping New Zealand gang scene

Australia’s exiled bikies are taking crime to extreme, violent levels in New Zealand, transforming the Kiwi gang scene as they stage a turf war against traditional outfits. And one gang has been named the worst of the imports.

Comachero bikie Norm Meyer is back in New Zealand and could soon be joined by his violent son Vincent. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Bikies banished from Australia are escalating violence to extreme levels after being sent back to New Zealand.

Police say our unwanted exports have reshaped the country’s gang scene as they aggressively move to wrench drug market share from the traditional Kiwi outfits.

Ex-Aussie members of the Comanchero, in particular, have become a huge problem for law enforcement in NZ, committing widespread violence and aligning themselves with Mexican drug cartels.

The deportees are known as 501s because that is the number of the strict character provisions under which many have been returned across the Tasman Sea.

New Zealand Police Association president Chris Cahill told the Herald Sun the Australians had brought a new level of violence to the OMCG world.

Mr Cahill said some of the deportees had spent almost all of their lives in Australia and were, essentially, not New Zealanders.

Pasilika Naufahu was deported from Australia on character grounds and has since been arrested.

“The only links they’ve got (here) are straight back into gangs. The public are now seeing the problems they’re causing,” he said.

But Mr Cahill said he understood why Australian authorities would use whatever means were available to get rid of them.

“We don’t want them here for our members to have to deal with.”

Mr Cahill said ex-Australians also had a presence with the Rebels and Bandidos and there were concerns about the Mongols making a move.

Senior New Zealand OMCG cop Ray Sunkel last year told a conference that after an execution-style street shooting, the local gangs’ attitude was: “Don’t look at us, mate, that’s the Aussies, that’s not what we do, you know that.”

Detective Sgt Sunkel told the conference the Comanchero were the worst of the imports.

“The Comancheros, I can assure you, are the devil,” he said.

Earlier this year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern accused Australia of using unfair policies to deport “your people and your problems”.

Vincent Meyer will likely be deported after serving his sentence for an assault.

The Victorian Rebels president Ray Elise is facing imminent deportation.

NZ chapter president and Australian deportee Pasilika Naufahu, vice-president Tyson Daniels, Jarome Fonua and Connor Michael Tamati Clausen were arrested after almost $4 million in luxury cars, motorcycles, properties and cash was seized in raids across Auckland last year.

It was alleged the gang planned to import methamphetamine and ephedrine into the country.

A court heard how members used flashy assets including Harley-Davidsons and Range Rovers to entice young people to join their ranks and a rogue lawyer and accountant helped launder money.

Naufahu, Daniels and Fonua were later charged with assaulting a prisoner while behind bars.

More trouble could be afoot for New Zealand as other bikies are deported from Australia.

Vincent Meyer – the son of feared former Comanchero sergeant-at-arms Norm Meyer – will likely be sent packing for breaking a fellow Comanchero’s arm during a brutal assault in Collingwood.

CCTV footage showed Meyer and his co-offender punch, kick and stomp on his one-time bikie mate at Smash Masters Collision Repairs.

Meyer was sentenced to 18 months jail last September and will likely be deported after serving his sentence.

His father Norm – a former senior Melbourne Comanchero – is already back in New Zealand.

Ray Elise, the Victorian President of the Rebels OMCG, is facing imminent deportation.

His visa was revoked by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton earlier this year due to his disregard for the law and extensive criminal associations.

The bikie president has a lengthy criminal record in New Zealand including unlawfully carrying an imitation firearm and behaving threateningly.

Canberra Comanchero sergeant-at-arms Sosefo Tu’uta Katoa is also facing deportation over bomb charges.

His visa was revoked last September after he was charged with possessing explosives.

Mr Katoa is suspected of being involved in as many as 33 gang-related arsons and 28 gang-related shootings, the ACT Supreme Court heard. A group of high-ranking Comanchero booted from Australia were charged with importing drugs and laundering millions of dollars in New Zealand.

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Originally published as Bikies banished from Australia reshaping New Zealand gang scene