Locked suitcases in an Auckland wardrobe were cut open to reveal 30kg of methamphetamine destined for the Wairarapa and Wellington.
Police had been running an operation targeting large quantities of the drug moving through the regions and had pinpointed Michael Patrick Sheeran Hanna as the source.
A raid on the home of his partner in 2017 turned up the drugs and thousands in cash.
Hanna was jailed for 12 years and eight months on Friday at the High Court in Wellington by Justice Christine Grice.
The judge called him an ounce dealer and wholesaler who got into supplying drugs to feed his own addiction and to cover his own drug debts.
She said he was exposed to gangs, drugs and violence from a young age, and using methamphetamine by the time he was 15.
“You were trapped by your family then trapped by addiction,” she said.
The judge also imposed a minimum non-parole period of half the sentence.
Hanna had told a report writer that he knew it was wrong but the addiction was too strong to resist.
For a man hiding millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine in a cupboard, Michael Hanna did not have the trappings of a big time dealer.
Police said he was a member of the Tribesman OMC but when he was delivering drugs to his relatives, members of the Namana family and other customers, he drove an unassuming black Suzuki Swift.
When he was in the Wellington area he lived in the garage at his mother’s house on the main road that runs through Upper Hutt. In Auckland he lived with his partner and child in a room at her parent’s home.
At a mid-point between the two, in Taupo, lived Hanna’s ex-partner and his child.
Hanna, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of having about 30kg of methamphetamine for the purposes of supply, and two charges of supplying the drug.
Police thought Hanna a careful seller. Dealers never came to his addresses to buy.
He did business in plain sight, such as service stations, car parks, and takeaway bars.
Favourites around the Hutt Valley were a charcoal chicken takeaway in Upper Hutt, in the carpark near the Avalon duck pond, and the car park at the Avalon rugby club.
He was careful about changing his cell phone number regularly, and asked two of his larger customers to get a new number or an untraceable “burner phone” for their contact with him.
And even as police were trying to electronically eavesdrop on his conversations he began using an encrypted phone that defied their attempts.
The head of a Wairarapa drug family, Wayne Namana was not content with Hanna’s prices and at one point in 2017 was getting supplies from an unidentified source.
Police arrested members of the family in Wairarapa on December 7. Patriarch Wayne was sentenced to five years and seven months’ jail, which had been discounted for his guilty plea, plus psychological and cultural factors.
Hanna’s business continued for several days more. He returned to Auckland on December 8 and arranged for an accomplice to do another deal on December 13 in the Hutt Valley.
Police had overheard it being arranged and got to the rugby club carpark beforehand.
Police stopped one car afterwards and found 136g of methamphetamine and $2700 cash. The other car was stopped later and police found 19g of methamphetamine and $33,870 cash.
Later that night it was Hanna’s turn.
Police raided his partner’s family home at about 8pm. Before they could stop him Hanna destroyed his cellphone by snapping it in half.
Police cut open two padlocked bags found in a wardrobe, and discovered 30kg of methamphetamine worth about $18m if valued at the lower wholesale rate of $600 a gram.
Its street value could have been up to $30m.
In his car police also found $47,869 cash.
Namana’s daughter Chanel Rewa Namana has also been sentenced to jail for six years and four months.
She had been living at a motel unit in Masterton while police were investigating her and members of her family.
She pleaded guilty to taking part in an organised criminal group, possession of methamphetamine for supply, and supplying methamphetamine, but she disputed the extent of her involvement and that she was a key player in the family business.
Despite her initial denials to police, during the court hearing Namana admitted having bought methamphetamine from Hanna as early as 2014, and the proof of it was in Facebook messages.
But she also had other explanations for their contact. They were also cousins and met for family catch-ups, she said.
However, the judge found she had a key role in purchasing, managing and facilitating large supplies from Mr Hanna for the family business. Her father consulted her when supplies were needed, and she would usually collect them. She and her father worked as a team.
She said Namana treated it as a business and prided herself on her business acumen.
The judge said she had sourced methamphetamine from her favorite upstream supplier, Hanna.
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Source: Stuff