Comancheros Operation Nova: Connor Clausen jailed for three years and eight months

Connor Clausen during the first day of the Comancheros Operation Nova trial at the Auckland High Court. Photo / Brett Phibbs

A drug runner trusted by the Comancheros and found guilty of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine has been jailed for three years and eight months.

After a lengthy and high-profile trial, Connor Clausen was found guilty of conspiring to supply the Class B drug pseudoephedrine in September 2018.

The president of the Comancheros chapter in New Zealand, Pasilika Naufahu, was also found guilty by the jury as a co-offender.

The offending was caught on camera by covert police capturing Clausen for two minutes and 19 seconds.

"Mr Clausen's role was confined to what we see in the surveillance," defence lawyer Simon Lance said.

"He was the passenger in that car. He wasn't carrying any weapons."

There was no evidence or suggestion Clausen was being paid or had a role moving forwards involving drugs, he said.

"His role was very much fleeting."

Justice Graham Lang said while Clausen's "culpability falls well below" that of He Sha, he had acted as a courier or runner.

"You had no propriety interest in the drugs."

Rather Clausen was acting on orders from higher up, he said, and was in a position of trust.

Clausen had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges involving the unlawful possession of firearms.

In sentencing Clausen today, Justice Lang acknowleged that his deportation from Australia had left him stranded in New Zealand with little support.

Clausen was "inevitably driven to the Comancheros organisation in order to find friendship and fellowship".

Pasilika Naufahu, Comanchero MC president, pictured during the first day of his trial. Photo / Brett Phibbs

He was arrested as a part of a covert police investigation that targeted the activities of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, code-named Operation Nova.

More than 80 police officers were involved in the raids, which led to about $4m of assets being seized, including several luxury vehicles such as a Rolls-Royce Wraith and gold-plated Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

A woman, who has name suppression, was earlier today sentenced to 175 hours community work for one representative charge of money laundering.

She and the key money handler in the case had visited South Auckland banks depositing sums of cash which would go on to be used for the purchase of luxury items for others.

Justice Lang said at the forefront of the planning of the scheme was a solicitor, Andrew Simpson.

Then lawyer Andrew Simpson helped the gang. Photo / Sam Hurley

The then lawyer had directed the money handler that sums were to be deposited in sums under $10,000, he said.

"This was clearly done so the attention of the authorities would not be drawn to the deposits," Justice Lang said.

The High Court judge acknowledged the woman was "particularly vulnerable" and "financially stretched" at the time.

But the aggravating features of the offending included that she was personally involved on four separate dates involving multiple transactions, he said.

The woman and the main money handler had also shared a joke about whether the money could be coming from a gang like the Comancheros, the court heard.

"This shows you did turn your mind to the source of the cash," Justice Lang said.

However, the woman was sentenced on the basis she was reckless as to the source of the cash - which had been accepted by the Crown.