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Operation Typhoon: “Again, Not Us”
The New Zealand Police have again been called-out for wrongly linking change movement Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom to methamphetamine dealing.
The links were made by police in a media release on Monday, announcing more than 100 arrests in “Operation Typhoon.”
But Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom ariki Sonny Fatupaito, says none of his members have been arrested or have been linked to the offending alleged by police, and says it’s time for apologies, reconciliation and communication to help build a safer community “together.”
“The Waikato Police have negative attitudes and negative narratives that are obstructive to us and our determination to change our lives for the better,” he said, responding to both the release and a tweet soon afterwards from Police Minister Stuart Nash, which Fatupaito dismisses as election campaigning.
Nash tweeted: “Busted! More than 100 arrests link the Waikato Mongrel Mob to methamphetamine. Five clandestine labs dismantled, illegal firearms, cash & high-spec bikes & cars seized. Police now have the resources they need to go hard against gangs & drugs thanks to our investment in new cops”.
Waikato Police Organised Crime Unit spokesman Detective Inspector Graham Pitkethley said there had been more than 40 search warrants, more than 100 arrests, and the seizure of over 1kg of methamphetamine and 30 firearms.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12370526
Fatupaito said: “As ariki of the Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom I can categorically and proudly state that no members or senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom were arrested or associated.”
“The Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom continue to make transformative and intergenerational change for our people despite the continual misinformation spread by the Minister of Police, the NZ Police hierarchy, and mainstream media,” he said.
He referred to Nash’s Te Huringa o Te Tai speech in which it was said: “New Zealand Police’s motto is Safer Communities Together.”
“For a moment I want to focus on the word “together”,” Fatupaito said. “Together” is about New Zealand Police working with all of New Zealand’s diverse communities, and working with a range of valuable partners, to make New Zealand the Safest Country and enhance security at home and in the Pacific.”
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/te-huringa-o-te-tai-police-crime-prevention-strategy
“Regardless of persistent efforts by the Kingdom’s leadership to liaise with the Waikato Police via the refreshed Te Huringa o Te Tai police strategy, meetings are continually refused,” Fatupaito said. “The current gang liaison officer in Waikato is missing in action.”
Undeterred the Waikato Kingdom pushes forward for our people, not the Government, not the Minister of Police and not New Zealand politicians, he said, adding: “It is deeply disappointing to the Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom executive that the Minister of Police, the NZ Police’s National Organised Crime Group and the Waikato Organised Crime Squad continue to use such sensationalism, misinformation and misreporting in an obvious attempt to undermine all the good works and positive community support we have worked hard to achieve.”
“The smear campaigning, verging on defamation, is a deliberate ploy to obfuscate what the Mongrel Mob Waikato Kingdom is achieving,” he said. “The Waikato Police have negative attitudes and negative narratives that are obstructive to us and our determination to change our lives for the better, and they do not believe that we as a iwi can make positive, proactive, and constructive change.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12278211
“Our Kingdom whānau have responded to the inter-generational effects of the racism, bias, abuse, and colonisation that the justice system has created, enabled and continues to deliver almost 200 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
“Just as Dame Tariana Turia has always said - 'We need to use our collective genius to ensure communities are empowered to develop local solutions to local problems'.”
“The core to Whānau Ora - that whānau are empowered to know that they hold the solutions to any challenges that face them - is exactly the work that we are carrying out within our organisation here in the Waikato.”
Fatupaito said that in 2016 methamphetamine was banned and urine testing was introduced by the Kingdom Chapter.
“This was just one initiative to bring forth more productive, constructive, and positive changes,” he said. “With the right leaders in the right places miracles can happen. It is time to turn the tide, so we as a people will have a better chance to give our young leaders of tomorrow, and their children's children a more productive and constructive way of life.”
“With the NZ general election only days away, I know without doubt politicians are using the gang rhetoric for their political posturing.
“As I have previously stated, if any decent political party were serious about tackling gang issues, they would first tackle and eliminate poverty,” he said. “We know through our life experiences that this iwi was born out of the ashes of poverty.”
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