This story originally appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission
The jury has found Comanchero gang leader Pasilika Naufahu and member Connor Clausen guilty of money laundering and of conspiring to supply the class B drug pseudoephedrine.
A jury delivered the verdict in the High Court in Auckland this afternoon after nearly two days of deliberations.
The trial took nearly four weeks.
On trial were Comanchero gang leader Pasilika Naufahu, fellow member Connor Clausen, and a person with name suppression.
The person with name suppression has also been found guilty of money laundering.
Naufahu was accused of money laundering and conspiring to supply the class B drug pseudoephedrine – after a charge of conspiring to import a Class A drug was dropped.
Clausen was charged with conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine, and the other person with interim name suppression was charged with money laundering.
The trio were arrested in 2019 after a police operation that netted millions of dollars of property, cars, motorbikes and cash.
Last week the case was abruptly pared down when two defendants had their charges largely dismissed – with the total number of charges dropping from 11 to four and the number of people on trial dropping from five to three.
Naufahu is due to be sentenced in late November, and Clausen and the person with name supression in December.
