Dick Tamai boasted to an undercover police officer he supplied methamphetamine to ‘half of Rotorua’, as well as selling large quantities of the Class-A drug and a shotgun. The covert police investigation thwarted the plans of the Head Hunters to start a new chapter in the city.
A father-and-son team who boasted of controlling half of the methamphetamine trade in Rotorua were caught by a pair of undercover police officers posing as drug dealers.
The covert investigation, Operation Janzi, also stopped the plans of the Head Hunters to establish another chapter of the club and increase their influence in the Bay of Plenty.
Paul Tamai, 58, and his son Dick Tamai, 41, were prospects for the motorcycle club and in frequent communication with a patched Head Hunter in Auckland whose phones were tapped by the National Organised Crime Group.
The plan was for the pair, who live in Ngongotaha, to become full members themselves and help the club get a foothold in Rotorua.
Paul Tamai travelled to Auckland to pick up large quantities of methamphetamine, while his son would sell it in Rotorua on his behalf.
Their world came crashing down in December 2018 when police seized around $420,000 worth of methamphetamine and $380,000 in cash and assets.
Father and son were arrested in the raids and both pleaded guilty in February 2020 to multiple charges of possession of a Class-A drug for supply, supplying or offering to supply a Class-A drug, and in Dick Tamai’s case, unlawful possession of firearms.
Paul Tamai also admitted unlawful possession of ammunition.The convictions carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and both men will be sentenced in the Rotorua District Court in June.
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Source: NZ Herald