Head Hunter funeral: Gangsters ride through Ohakune on 500km ...

Police have arrested at least two people, issued several tickets and caught a drink-driver as part of their effort to monitor a 500km funeral ride across the North Island.

Members of three gangs set off on their mass funeral ride from the Head Hunters’ East headquarters in Auckland this morning for what some expected to be the biggest gang tangi in New Zealand history.

The gang is farewelling feared and revered Head Hunter William “Bird” Hines, with their ride from Auckland to Foxton north of Wellington.

About 60 bikies are still making the trip, police say, and they have passed through Ohakune, likely to reach their destination at Motuiti marae at 7pm.

The procession is being monitored by the police Eagle helicopter, after fears it could bring the traffic network to its knees.

About 100 motorcyclists were reported to be riding together at one point in the day, Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson said.

Johnson said the number of riders had “swelled and reduced” as the procession continued down the country.

Police impounded one motorcycle and seized a stolen car. Johnson said several people were arrested related to the seizures.

Police also gave out several tickets and failed one person on an evidential breath test.

“Our expectations around behaviour have been made very clear,” Johnson said. “Those travelling and attending any of the procession ... need to know police will act on any unlawful activity.”

More than 100 police officers have been deployed to monitor the ride and Johnson said a large police presence would remain “through the next phases” of their response and as required.

He addressed the riders directly: “Attend and go about your business in a lawful way and I’m sure this will go off with the appropriate respect for the deceased and the family.”

He asked members of the public to report any unlawful behaviour they may see.

“The safety of the public is our absolute priority,” Johnson said.

Before mounting their bikes this morning, gang members performed a haka in front of a big crowd gathered at the pad that also included gangsters from the Killer Beez and King Cobras.

The procession left from the Marua Rd property, heading onto the State Highway 1 motorway near the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway, before heading south. Hundreds of people lined Marua Rd.

Earlier, a hearse and as many as 100 patched members were outside the pad, with some of those attending coming on motorbikes and others in sports cars.

Police deployed large numbers of officers to man road checkpoints on either side of the East chapter pad.

These were used to check vehicles leaving the area.

The police helicopter has also been tasked with following the procession.

“The police helicopter, Eagle, has been deployed to monitor movements through the roading network and to provide support during this operation in other police districts.

“Given the volume of traffic heading south, police are advising motorists that there may be some disruptions in parts of their journey. We have deployed extra staff to support this operation both on the roads and for its duration.”

Few members of the public were on the street, with only those gathering for the funeral ride mingling and embracing.

Police fire warning shot

Police this morning said they will be “highly visible” in the coming days and will have extra resources on the roads “to target illegal behaviour and to mitigate disruption to the public as much as possible”.

They anticipate gang members to ride between Auckland and Foxton, but also have other groups travel north to Foxton from southern regions.

Assistant Commissioner Johnson said police had been talking with Head Hunter members to let them know exactly how they are expected to behave on public roads.

“Police will have increased staff deployed on the roading network across these regions, and we anticipate checkpoints to be established in some areas to ensure those taking part are adhering to the law,” Johnson said.

”Our expectations are very clear around no tolerance for unlawful activity that puts the wider community at risk.

“Community safety is paramount for police.”

Johnson said police were conscious that extra traffic on the roading network may mean some delays to travel.

”Anyone who might be concerned for their safety, or who witnesses illegal activity, should contact police as soon as possible,” he said.

The public can make reports to police by calling 105 or going online at https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105.

Information can also be reported anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

The Herald earlier reported that police met this week due to fears about how the ride would progress and under political pressure from the new government.

Hines’ body was expected to be taken from the East chapter pad at 232 Marua Rd on a final ride around Auckland, accompanied by bikers from the Head Hunters and various other outlaw motorcycle clubs.

The procession then made the more-than-500km journey south.

Hines comes from the Foxton area and is expected to be buried alongside other family members at the Motuiti Marae urupā at Hīmatangi north of Foxton, on or about Monday.

Yesterday, Head Hunters were gathering en masse at the Ellerslie pad, watched by a large contingent of police stationed up and down the road and on side streets. A steady stream of members, their whānau and supporters were arriving at the club to offer food and koha and pay their respects.

New marquees have been put up, along with signs bearing the phrase “In Bird We Trust”, by which Hines is already immortalised on the wall of the club’s inner sanctum inside Marua Rd.

Hines’ long criminal history

Hines was serving a 17-year prison sentence for running a methamphetamine syndicate, but was released by the Parole Board late last year on compassionate grounds.

He was living with type 2 diabetes, which required dialysis every second day and resulted in limb amputation, heart disease and end-stage renal failure.

Hines was released from prison shortly before his 70th birthday, and had been living with a family member who provided 24/7 care in his final months.

A previous Parole Board decision noted Hines wanted to “make peace with his whānau as a consequence of his offending history on them”.

Hines’ criminal history stretches back to at least 1989, when he was caught with a loaded pistol in the lounge bar of a hotel. Pistols are prized in the criminal underworld, a weapon of status.

It was a sign of things to come for the then-36-year-old.

A few years later, he was convicted of kidnapping a man at gunpoint, then torturing him with pliers and an electric drill in a garage, because of a supposed debt.

The guilty verdict came despite the victim refusing to give evidence.

In sentencing Hines to four years’ jail, Justice Robertson said no one was above the law.

Five years later, Hines and two other Head Hunters confronted an undercover police officer and held him at knifepoint.

“If you do not prove you are not a cop, then you are not leaving here,” was how Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery recounted the conversation at the 1996 trial.

Again, Hines was convicted of kidnapping and jailed for 12 months.

But it was the lucrative profits of methamphetamine that took Hines from menacing stand-over man to the big time.

He was one of the ringleaders of a network who dubbed themselves the “Methamphetamine Makers Co Ltd”, alongside infamous bank robber Waha Safiti and meth cook Brett Allison.

The trio were planning to split a batch of methamphetamine to yield hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The business partners were busy falling out when police swooped in 2000 following Operation Flower.

Bugged conversations were played at the trial in which Saifiti and Hines were recorded talking about “whacking” people.

“Rest assured, we will not be made to look like fools here,” said Saifiti. “We will just whack anybody who needs to be whacked ... Whack him straight on the spot.”

After the raids across Auckland, police found the remnants of Allison’s lab in Henderson.

The 2000 litres of chemicals involved made it one of the biggest — and potentially most explosive — drug laboratories ever found. It took officials wearing breathing apparatus seven days to pull apart.

In sentencing Hines, Justice Mathew Downs made special mention of the “sinister nature” of the firearms and drugs found inside the storage unit.

“This careful packaging, the nature and collection of articles, and the rental of the unit on the same day as the manufacture of the methamphetamine imply this was the work of an organised criminal enterprise. You led that enterprise,” Justice Downs said to Hines.

“And although you were careful to act from behind the scenes, I am sure you directed this offending ... You sat atop an organisation which made a very large amount of methamphetamine and intended to make more.”

At the time of his arrest, the Head Hunters were run by a committee led by Doyle and Hines, according to Detective Inspector Kevin McNaughton, a former head of the police Motorcycle Gang Unit who gave evidence at the trial.