Operation Van – Justin Te Kowhai sentencing: Comancheros commander’s Rotorua-based meth syndicate ‘manager’ jailed in Auckland
A Rotorua marae trustee who led a secret life as the “senior manager” for a major methamphetamine syndicate has been handed a prison term of over 17 years.
Justin Te Kowhai, 55, was the man on the ground tasked with implementing orders from the overseas-based “supreme commander” of the Comancheros.
He appeared for sentencing this morning in the High Court at Auckland, bringing a partial end to a joint Customs and National Organised Crime Group investigation dubbed Operation Van launched a decade ago.
He is the top-ranking of five syndicate participants to be sentenced today. Underling Russell Harrison, a well-known Rotorua-based musician and former Lotto presenter, will be sentenced at a separate hearing this afternoon.
Notably missing from New Zealand court hearings has been Te Kowhai’s high-ranking Comancheros cousin, Duax Ngakuru, who remains overseas following his 2023 arrest in Turkey.
“Deterrence is particularly important in your case to ensure that others are not tempted to engage in large-scale, commercial methamphetamine trade,” Justice Michael Robinson told Te Kowhai.
“That trade can be enormously profitable, but it is immeasurably damaging to our community. It wrecks people’s lives and it wrecks families.”
Te Kowhai pleaded guilty in late June, just days before he was set to go to trial, to myriad charges including laundering money with Harrison’s help, possessing at least 150kg of methamphetamine for supply and scheming to smuggle more drugs from China, South America and the Pacific Islands.
His successful imports would have been worth tens of millions of dollars on the black market.
Op Van was already underway in December 2017 when Te Kowhai allegedly helped Duax Ngakuru set up shop in New Zealand.
He and co-defendant Jack Phillips helped introduce the Ngakurus to an area Mongrel Mob president, who, after a face-to-face meeting, agreed to purchase and distribute bulk quantities of methamphetamine the syndicate would provide, according to court documents.
Phillips, a fellow Rotorua resident who stood beside Te Kowhai in the dock today, was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention. The judge noted he had previous methamphetamine offending in 2006 but since then had been beset by health issues – including a stroke and heart surgery – that would make prison disproportionately difficult for him.
“You have not offended for 20 years,” the judge noted. “You will not be able to say that now. If there’s a next time, the court might not be so understanding.”
Te Kowhai and most of his co-defendants were arrested in June 2021. Their trial was delayed for five years as New Zealand courts reviewed the legality of a unique international law enforcement tactic that gathered evidence.
The investigation had been given a major boost by Operation Trojan Shield, an audacious global investigation in which criminals around the world were duped by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police into using a messaging service called ANOM. The app, promoted specifically to the criminal fraternity, was supposed to be encrypted – providing extra protection from police surveillance warrants. In reality, it was funnelling communications directly to law enforcement.
Most of the Operation Van guilty pleas came after the Court of Appeal determined that the fruits of the fake messaging app trick could be used even though, defence lawyers argued, it amounted to bugging a suspect without a warrant.
Authorities said the syndicate’s most audacious plan had been to collect a 1.5-tonne shipment of cocaine about 300km off the coast of Tauranga. Te Kowhai helped purchase a $180,000 boat and fitted it with $100,000 in upgrades, including night-vision capabilities for the planned clandestine meeting.
Te Kowhai arranged a crew for the ship, but the plan appeared to have been abandoned after one of the crew members was arrested.
But plenty of other drug smuggling attempts were successful.
By 2018, Te Kowhai was discussing trying to convince Duax Ngakuru to invest $6m in his drug profits into a legitimate medicinal cannabis business.
“Intercepted communications in August 2018 show that Mr Te Kowhai was worried that people would ask questions about the legitimacy of the funds ...” court documents state. “Mr Te Kowhai noted ... that the only way to successfully establish the business was to be ‘incognito’ and to use multiple shell companies.”
Te Kowhai sent a professional facilitator to Turkey to discuss the potential business with Duax Ngakuru. A week later, Te Kowhai set up Zymbl Capital Ltd and around $708,000 was transferred to the company.
Te Kowhai faced up to life imprisonment for the most serious of the drug charges he pleaded guilty to.
Crown prosecutor Ben Kirkpatrick asked for a sentence starting point of 30 years for the combined charges, pointing to his major influence over the organisation. He also sought a minimum period of imprisonment of 50%, noting he had been assessed as a medium risk of reoffending.
“He almost connects every participant,” the prosecutor said of the syndicate, describing him as “the senior manager in charge of the New Zealand operation – certainly in the Bay of Plenty”.
“He’s one of the key pillars,” he said.
Defence lawyer Sam Galler disagreed, arguing that Te Kowhai should not be seen as the highest-ranking member of the syndicate on the ground in New Zealand. He sought a combined starting point of 23 years.
He did some recruitment for the syndicate and was an occasional fix-it man, but that’s not the same as being in charge, Galler argued.
“The recruitment isn’t a silver bullet here,” he said. “The hierarchy is complicated and nuanced because of the nature of the interpersonal relationships. He’s not a gang member. He’s friends or relatives with the main players.”
He emphasised that Te Kowhai never used violence or intimidation to recruit other members, all of whom were his friends.
Justice Robinson set a combined starting point of 29 years’ imprisonment.
“Although you did not have a hands-on involvement with each drug transaction, that is not inconsistent with the leadership role,” the judge said. “You helped establish a new methamphetamine distribution channel. You recruited key participants and exercised authority over them ... You resolved difficulties when they arose, and you took steps to preserve the operation after it was compromised.”
He allowed 40% in total reductions for Te Kowhai’s guilty plea, prior good character and rehabilitation prospects, mental and physical health factors and for the five years he spent on bail. It resulted in an end sentence of 17 years and four months’ imprisonment.
The judge noted Te Kowhai’s supporters described him as a dedicated family man, a frequent volunteer and a “deeply respected member of the community” who supported his local marae and his Māori trust. He also used his legitimate career as a commercial diver to do environmental work in the area.
“There is, of course, significant tension between these admirable qualities ... and your involvement and supply in such large quantities of methamphetamine,” the judge said.
He ordered a minimum term of imprisonment of at least seven years, which equates to roughly 40%.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.