The assets seized included three motorbikes and a dirt bike. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
A senior Hawke's Bay Mongrel Mob member has had more than $2.1 million of assets and cash seized.
The High Court at Napier ordered the forfeiture on 25 August following a long-standing investigation into the Mongrel Mob Notorious chapter.
Assets seized in Operation Dusk include five residential properties, cash and bank accounts totalling more than $74,000, six motor vehicles including two trucks, three motorbikes and one dirt bike and a boat, trailers and a Kobelco digger.
Detective Sam Buckley of Wellington's Central Asset Recovery Unit said they had seized over $8.7m worth of property and cash from Hawke's Bay Mongrel Mob members in the past three years. This included assets restrained from senior members of various chapters.
Six motor vehicles including two trucks were seized in Operation Dusk. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
The senior member was the subject of a criminal investigation between 2019 and 2021, led by the Wellington-based National Organised Crime Group with support from the Eastern District Organised Crime Unit.
Six other people were also arrested following a series of search warrants across the Hawke's Bay area in May 2021.
Other organised crime groups targeted as part of the wider operation included Black Power and Outlaw MC gangs.
Buckley said members took steps to distance themselves from assets, including registering them in the names of family members, friends, and other gang members.
Cash and bank accounts totalling more than $74,000 were forfeited. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act investigation found the assets were "derived through illicit means, allowing them to live a lifestyle beyond legitimate means that was openly displayed to the Hawke's Bay public".
Two motor vehicle dealers were also warned for their interactions with the Mongrel Mob organised criminal group.
"This is an example of police successfully targeting organised crime through both criminal and civil court jurisdictions," Buckley said.
"One of the primary reasons that organised crime exists is to make money and this result should show people participating in this activity, that they will be held accountable."