PHOTO: ROB KIDDA Dunedin man caught as part of a nationwide police drug sting on the Comancheros gang has been jailed for more than six years. The High Court at Dunedin this week heard 37-year-old Luke James Ruaine Maloney was not a member of the motorcycle gang, but provided a vital link in the distribution of narcotics in the South. The outlaw group has become synonymous with weapons and large-scale drug trafficking, which prompted police’s Operation Avon. As investigations progressed, officers discovered a commercial enterprise centred in Christchurch with tentacles in the South, and Operation Leith was launched. Analysis of Maloney’s phone showed he had been involved in the drug enterprise for the preceding five months.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 20, 2026 21:34 UTC