Police in Tonga say an alleged Comancheros gang member deported from Australia was behind moves to establish the outlaw motorcycle group in the Pacific Island — an attempt they say was disrupted in a drug bust this month.
They arrested 17 people and seized several kilograms of methamphetamine in raids across Tonga's main island amid warnings of increased illegal activity involving the gang.
Tonga Police Commissioner Shane McLennan said police began an operation targeting the Comancheros when a "patched" member was deported from Australia to Tonga in October 2022.
The ABC can reveal that person to be 43-year-old Eneasi Taumoefolau, who was among those arrested this month.
Among others arrested in the raids were a customs officer and a prisons officer, and police say it appears an inmate inside the country's main jail arranged the drug importation.
In one raid on August 9, police seized 2.6 kilograms of methamphetamine imported in a crate from the United States, as well as guns and ammunition.
Tonga's drugs squad also seized methamphetamines weighing 3.5 kilograms, vehicles, cash, and cash counting machines in a later raid on August 13-14.
Police also confiscated dozens of Comancheros jackets, T-shirts and patches.
Police target Comancheros
Police allege two of the people arrested are Comanchero gang members.
In a statement on Monday, Tonga police said the outlaw motorcycle group had grown its presence in Tonga and was involved in illegal activities.
But Commissioner McLennan said the raids were a significant blow to its ambitions in the country.
"We're very confident that we will be able to shut the gang down," he said.
Commissioner McLennan told the ABC that after Taumoefolau was deported to Tonga, the alleged outlaw motorcycle gang member resumed his former "lifestyle" and activities.
He said drugs including methamphetamine had been present in Tonga before Taumoefalau was deported from Australia.
"All the deportation has done is it's enabled this group to enliven itself here in the kingdom and take advantage of what was already existing," he said.
According to court records, Taumoefolau was born in Tonga and his family came to Australia in 1989 when he was seven or eight years old.
He has a considerable criminal history stretching back to 2008 involving several drug offences.
In 2009 he was sentenced to three years' jail for supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and supplying cannabis.
Two years later he was handed a 21-month jail term for intentionally causing injury, threat to kill and use of an unregistered firearm.
Then in 2014 he was sentenced to five years' jail after pleading guilty to trafficking ecstasy, methamphetamine and cannabis, as well as possession of a prohibited weapon.
Australia 'bears responsibility'
The arrests come as Pacific Island nations grapple with growing drug use, and as law enforcement agencies attempt to thwart crime syndicates using the region as a transit point for drugs trafficked to Australia and New Zealand.
A recent Lowy Institute report said organised crime groups from outside the Pacific had played a central role in the region's drug market, driving growth in local drug production and consumption.
"Australia and New Zealand's prolific and high-profile organised crime networks — including outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) — have expanded their activities offshore and into the Pacific," the 2022 report said.
"There has been a notable increase in OMCG members travelling to the Pacific since 2016, most commonly to the Cook Islands and Fiji."
And some experts say Australia's policies of deporting criminals with few links to their countries of birth is adding to the Pacific's drug crime problem.
Transnational crime expert Jose Sousa-Santos said the raids in Tonga were a clear example of the spread of new criminal players in the region.
"We have seen outlaw motorcycle gang activity in the region at a smaller scale, in Fiji and the Cook Islands. But the Comancheros are definitely new players in the region and they're coming in with a lot greater intent and larger plans."
But he said Australia, as well as New Zealand and the US, bear responsibility for cases like this through their policies of deporting non-citizens convicted of criminal offences.
"This really sits squarely on the deportation policies of Australia, New Zealand and the US," he said.
"This is due to the deportee policies having sent deportees with ties to the Comancheros and other motorcycle gangs to the Pacific, to Tonga.
"And once they get to the countries they don't have links, they don't have ties, no prospects of work and they reach back to their criminal associates and this creates a whole new player in the criminal network.
"This is where Australia, New Zealand and the US have to really have a serious re-look at their policies if they are serious about being positive partners and having a real impact in the region."
The recent Lowy Institute paper said more than 3,500 Pacific nationals were deported from Australia, New Zealand, and the US between 2004 and 2020, for reasons including overstayed visas, and convictions for driving under the influence, assault, grievous bodily harm, drug trafficking or other crimes.
The Home Affairs department was approached for comment.
