It started with a tip from the Australian Border Force in August 2021. A massive shipment – 556kg of high-quality methamphetamine – had recently been discovered hidden inside a rotary separator airfreighted from the Philippines. Had New Zealand authorities seen anything similar? 

A quick review by Customs discovered that an almost identical shipment from the same exporter had been cleared to enter New Zealand two months earlier. 

It was too late to confiscate the estimated 450kg of drugs that were successfully smuggled into New Zealand – a haul that would have been worth tens of millions of dollars. But authorities were able to gather enough circumstantial evidence to arrest Hells Angels member Brandon St John Cole a year later, following a lengthy investigation dubbed Operation Samson. 

The 32-year-old Whenupai resident pleaded guilty yesterday to drug trafficking and to laundering over $950,000, including the cash purchase of a Harley-Davidson Softail Low Rider motorbike. With the guilty pleas, details of the offending and the investigation can now be revealed for the first time. 

Court documents indicate Cole had not exactly been discreet about the financial windfall that followed the importation. 

In addition to the 2020 model Harley, purchased in September 2021 for at least $31,700 cash, he purchased a Ford Ranger SUV in Cambridge, Waikato in July 2021 for $50,000. The previous owner was handed a brown paper bag with five bundles of $10,000 comprised of rolled-up $50 notes, according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. He later changed the vehicle’s plates to read OGBOSS. 

Hells Angels member Brandon St John Cole has pleaded guilty to multiple charges involving drug trafficking and money laundering. He was arrested after a yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Samson. 

Police traced an additional $877,640 that was laundered by giving cash to several businesses linked to co-defendants before the bulk of the money was allegedly transferred back into his account. Others have pleaded not guilty and await trial. 

After launching the late investigation, police realised that Cole had signed a lease to rent a Silverdale factory in June 2021, seven days before the meth shipment arrived. 

He then set up an email account under the alias John Adams and used it to communicate with the shipping agent as he waited for the rotary separator to be cleared by Customs. He left $10,000 cash in the shipping agent’s home letterbox to pay taxes and duty on the import. Once the construction equipment was cleared for release, Cole arranged to have it delivered to a Te Atatū South business before being transferred again to the Silverdale factory space. 

“The New Zealand rotary separator was dismantled at that address (although the rotary separator itself has never been located),” court documents state. “Once dismantled, Mr B Cole ... with the assistance of others, removed at least 451 bags from the New Zealand rotary separator, each containing approximately one kilogram of methamphetamine. 

Brandon Cole, a patched member of the Hells Angels, has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of money laundering. Photo / Supplied 

“In total, the New Zealand rotary separator contained at least 450 kilograms of methamphetamine of very high quality.” 

Authorities did not state in court documents how much the methamphetamine was estimated to be worth, other than to say its sale would have “generated a significant amount of cash”. Police have previously testified in an unrelated trial that in 2020, one year before the import, the wholesale rate for a single kilo of meth was anywhere from $160,000 to $200,000. If sold for the lowest estimated rate, the 450kg would have generated $72 million. 

In July 2022, police executed a search warrant at a Kumeu storage unit rented by Cole, where they found $2.4 million cash stored in neat bundles. An additional $49,950 cash was found at his home. 

A week after the storage unit seizure, a search warrant at the Silverdale factory resulted in another interesting discovery. 

More than $2.4 million in cash, firearms and drugs were seized as part of Operation Samson, police reported in 2022. Hells Angels member Brandon Cole has pleaded guilty to multiple charges. Photo / Supplied 

“Located concealed behind a false wall inside the unit were two large storage bins with large amounts of crystal methamphetamine residue,” authorities noted. “Located on top of the mezzanine was a black duffle bag containing multiple empty clear plastic bags which had previously contained the imported methamphetamine and large amounts of crystal methamphetamine residue.” 

Police also found scales, plastic scoops, disposable gloves and plastic baggies. 

Upon arrest, Cole refused to comment. But police found a written note in his wallet recording the importation details and his alias John Adams. 

Standing in the dock in the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Cole entered guilty pleas to three counts of money laundering, each punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. He also pleaded guilty to importing and supplying methamphetamine, two similar but distinct charges that carry a maximum possible sentence of life imprisonment. 

Justice Mathew Downs accepted the guilty pleas, entering convictions on each. He remanded Cole in custody to await sentencing in November. 

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.