Latest news with #Comancheros
NZ Herald
28-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Gang retribution: Comancheros member Patrick Langi pleads guilty to Auckland shootings
He is the second defendant to have pleaded guilty in as many weeks after the Crown agreed to drop a charge of attempted murder. Justice Mathew Downs set a sentencing date of August 19 alongside co-defendant Elijah Meyer, 23. The duo was due to stand trial next month. 'Targeted retribution' Court documents state Langi and Meyer, a Comancheros prospect, carried out the shootings in August 2023 after high-ranking patched member Khalid Slaimankhel said he wanted out. Slaimankhel is serving a six-year sentence in Ngāwha prison in Northland for his part in a Comanchero's methamphetamine distribution scheme. 'Mr Slaimankhel recently sought to leave the Comancheros and was ordered to pay his way out in order to leave the gang, which he did not do,' authorities said of the gang's new ill will towards the member. 'These events were a targeted retribution intended to deliver a message to Mr Slaimankhel.' On August 10, 2023 - just over two weeks before the shootings occurred - the Department of Corrections searched Unit 8 of Rimutaka Prison, where gang president Naufahu and fellow patched member Jalal Safi were housed. Comancheros MC president Pasilika Naufahu, pictured during a court appearance in 2021. Photo / NZME Officers seized notebooks from Safi's cell, as well as a mobile phone he was using when the search began. Authorities would later realise the phone had been used to search Google Maps for the same streets where the shootings would later occur. The notebooks also contained addresses on those streets, with notations such as 'mum' and 'brother older'. On August 15, 10 days before the shootings, Langi used his phone to screenshot maps of the same addresses. That same day, co-defendant Meyer was 'directed by unknown parties to conduct surveillance' on the addresses. He took notes and photos that were later recovered from his phone. Timeline of violence Langi and Meyer showed up at the first property, in Epsom, about 7pm on August 25, 2023. Meyer fired at least three shots while another unidentified man was armed but his gun appears to have jammed, documents state. 'One of the fired projectiles went through the wooden window frame of the master bedroom at the front of the house, causing the interior of the window frame to chip off,' court documents state. 'At the time of the shooting there were eight occupants within the house, including three young children playing in the master bedroom that was shot at.' Thirteen minutes later, after fleeing the scene, the stolen car used by the duo was torched. Meyer and Langi arrived at the next home, in Hillsborough, at 7.31pm in a second stolen vehicle. Khalid Naser Slaimankhel appears in the High Court at Auckland in 2015. Photo / Jason Oxenham Meyer got out of the vehicle and began knocking on the door aggressively. Langi did not go up to the door with him, but he was charged with the same offence for having aided or encouraged the crime. Those inside the home had been eating upstairs, and a man yelled that he was coming down. Meyer opened fire as the man opened the door, with the bullets lodging in the door as the victim attempted to shut it. 'Mr Meyer placed his foot in the door to attempt to keep it open but [the victim] managed to push the door closed, and locked it, before attempting to run up the stairs away from the defendant,' police noted in the summaries of facts for both men. Meyer then walked to the front entrance window and aimed three more shots at the fleeing man – one of them grazing him in the back. Less than 15 minutes later, the second stolen vehicle was set alight at nearby Nash Rd Reserve. Police caught up to Meyer and Langi at 8.07pm that day after spotting them in a third stolen vehicle near the reserve. Gunshot residue was found in the vehicle and on both men's clothing, authorities said. The family of Comancheros member Khalid Slaimankhel was targeted after he tried to leave the gang. 'The defendant Langi declined to comment to most questions, [but] when confronted with the gunshot residue evidence he stated that it was 'bullshit' and police must have made that up,' court documents state. The duo could face up to 14 years' imprisonment for arson and up to seven years for discharging a firearm with reckless disregard. 'The shooting and related arson of the getaway vehicle was part of a co-ordinated attack to target members of Mr Slaimankhel's wider family that Mr Meyer and Mr Langi were a key part of,' the summaries of facts state. Good family, tragic past Slaimankhel, formerly a Dunedin bodybuilder, was also found guilty in 2015 of kidnapping a fellow bodybuilder and perverting the course of justice. He came from a good family, his lawyer said at his 2022 Auckland District Court sentencing on drug trafficking charges. Lawyer Mark Ryan said at the time his client turned to drugs and gangs after his father was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Khalid Naser Slaimankhel in a bodybuilding competition. Dr Hashem Slaimankhel had been a physician in Afghanistan and Pakistan before arriving in New Zealand in 1998 and taking on a role as a refugee health worker. His advocacy made enough of an impact in New Zealand that police publicly praised the 'dedicated and deeply respected community leader' after his death in January 2018. The elder Slaimankhel was among the nearly 100 people killed when an ambulance with a bomb inside detonated at a police checkpoint in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the massacre. At his 2022 sentencing, the younger Slaimankhel told Judge Evangelos Thomas he wanted to leave gang life behind him. Prosecutors voiced some scepticism but acknowledged the goal was a worthy one if genuine. 'It's going to take an awful amount of work to make sure that is carried through,' Crown prosecutor Jacob Barry said. The judge agreed, turning to Slaimankhel's family and supporters, who filled the courtroom gallery, after the defendant was led away to begin serving his sentence. He encouraged them to continue supporting him. 'If people aren't working hard around him, he's going to be straight into that [gang] environment,' the judge said. 'This work is really only beginning now.' 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. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
21-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Comanchero nominee Elijah Meyer pleads guilty to shooting inside two Auckland houses
He will face up to 14 years' imprisonment for the arson charge and up to seven years for the shootings when he is sentenced in August. As a nominee, Meyer held the lowest position in the Australia-based bikie gang, which opened a New Zealand chapter in 2018. Not yet allowed to wear a full patch, he and other prospects would have been expected to do 'mandatory menial tasks to serve senior patched members of the organisation, as well as unlawful or violent acts to assess their subservience and allegiance to the clubs', according to the summary of facts that Meyer agreed to. One such task ended up being to stake out the homes of Slaimankhel's extended family, then later to target them with violence. 'Mr Slaimankhel recently sought to leave the Comancheros and was ordered to pay his way out in order to leave the gang, which he did not do,' authorities said of the gang's new ill will towards the member. 'These events were a targeted retribution intended to deliver a message to Mr Slaimankhel.' Investigators would later find notes and photos on Meyer's phone of people and vehicles he saw outside addresses associated with Slaimankhel's family. Authorities said he used a long-barrelled gun to fire three shots into the first home, in Epsom, about 7pm on August 25, 2023. 'One of the fired projectiles went through the wooden window frame of the master bedroom at the front of the house, causing the interior of the window frame to chip off,' court documents state. 'At the time of the shooting there were eight occupants within the house, including three young children playing in the master bedroom that was shot at.' Thirteen minutes later, after fleeing the scene, the stolen car he had arrived at the house in was torched. Meyer arrived at the next home, in Hillsborough, at 7.31pm in a second stolen vehicle and began knocking on the door aggressively. Those inside the home had been eating upstairs. Meyer's victim yelled out that he was coming down, then opened the door to find a man in a balaclava holding a firearm. 'Mr Meyer immediately fired two shots in the direction of the front door,' court documents state. 'The shots fired were at close range and were aimed at the front door and were lodged in the door due to [the resident's] attempts to close it. 'Mr Meyer placed his foot in the door to attempt to keep it open but [the victim] managed to push the door closed, and locked it, before attempting to run up the stairs away from the defendant.' Meyer then walked to the front entrance window and aimed three more shots at the fleeing man – one of them grazing him in the back. Less than 15 minutes later, the second stolen vehicle was set alight at nearby Nash Rd Reserve. Police caught up to Meyer at 8.07pm that same day after spotting him in a third stolen vehicle near the reserve. Gunshot residue was found in the vehicle and on Meyer's clothing, authorities said. 'The shooting and related arson of the getaway vehicle was part of a co-ordinated attack to target members of Mr Slaimankhel's wider family that Mr Meyer was a key part of,' the summary of facts states. Slaimankhel, formerly a Dunedin bodybuilder, was also found guilty in 2015 of kidnapping a fellow bodybuilder and perverting the course of justice. He came from a good family, his lawyer said at his 2022 Auckland District Court sentencing on drug trafficking charges. Lawyer Mark Ryan said at the time his client turned to drugs and gangs after his father was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Dr Hashem Slaimankhel had been a physician in Afghanistan and Pakistan before arriving in New Zealand in 1998 and taking on a role as a refugee health worker. His advocacy made enough of an impact on New Zealand that police issued a press release praising the 'dedicated and deeply respected community leader' soon after his death in January 2018. The elder Slaimankhel was among the nearly 100 people killed when an ambulance with a bomb inside detonated at a police checkpoint in Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the massacre. At his 2022 sentencing, the younger Slaimankhel told Judge Evangelos Thomas he wanted to leave gang life behind him. Prosecutors voiced some scepticism but acknowledged the goal was a worthy one if genuine. 'It's going to take an awful amount of work to make sure that is carried through,' Crown prosecutor Jacob Barry said. The judge agreed, turning to Slaimankhel's family and supporters, who filled the courtroom gallery, after the defendant was led away to begin serving his sentence. He encouraged them to continue supporting him. 'If people aren't working hard around him, he's going to be straight into that [gang] environment,' the judge said. 'This work is really only beginning now.'
ABC News
12-05-2025
- ABC News
High Court to decide if information gathered on encrypted messaging app AN0M was legally obtained
The High Court will on Tuesday delve into the murky world of organised crime and encrypted messaging on an app known as AN0M, which was secretly controlled by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The operation known as "Ironside" began in 2018, when phones with the app began to circulate among criminal elements, encouraged by people the police identified as "criminal influencers", who unwittingly recommended the devices. It appeared to be a secure way to send messages, except that every communication was being copied and forwarded to police. In 2021 there was a worldwide crackdown. The app had collected about 28 million messages, including 19 million relating to Australia. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) said there were nearly 1,000 arrests globally, with 42 tonnes of illicit drugs and $US58 million in cash and crypto currency seized. According to AFP data, there have been nearly 100 people in Australia charged, with drugs, firearms, and substantial amounts of money seized. The ACIC said at the time the operation "provided voluminous, invaluable intelligence and insight that has never been obtained before by Australian law enforcement". But now two South Australian men, who are alleged members of the Comancheros bikie group, want the High Court to find that information was not legally obtained. The two are charged with belonging to a criminal group and possession of prohibited firearms. Their lawyers will tell the High Court the evidence against them collected from AN0M should be inadmissible in their trial, because its collection breached The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. "The question is whether communications obtained covertly by the AN0M application were obtained as the result of an unlawful interception," their submissions to the court said. The pair have so far failed in two appeals against the use of the information, but were granted special leave to appeal by the High Court last year. Soon afterwards the case took a new turn when the Commonwealth changed the law, to back up the use of the app by police. On Tuesday the High Court will also consider if the new law is valid. In their submissions the men's lawyers said it interferes with the exercise of judicial power guaranteed under the constitution. "It is an invalid exercise of legislative power," submissions for the men said. The lawyers will tell the High Court the new law undermines the institutional integrity of the courts, removing the "fact finding" function which is a hallmark of judicial power. But the Commonwealth will tell the High Court the new law does not direct the courts to find any fact, and is valid under the constitution. The Commonwealth also said in its submissions the new act made no difference to the interception laws. "[The] Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that the AN0M evidence did not involve an interception in contravention … of the Interception Act," Commonwealth submissions said. The attorneys-general for New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria have intervened, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions for South Australia, which has applied to intervene in support of the Commonwealth.
