• Ronny Okeke was last seen on April 27 in Mt Roskill and is known to have been injured in a physical altercation earlier that day. 
• Weeks later his body was found in dense bush in the Bay of Plenty. 
• Police have carried out multiple search warrants in an effort to solve the crime. 
• The 60-year-old was charged as part of Operation Ida – a case involving big-time money laundering – but the charges were later dropped. 

Almost a year has passed since Ronny Okeke was involved in a physical altercation in suburban Auckland – then never seen alive again. 

His body was found in mid-June in the Kaimai Ranges; about 180km south-east of the last known sighting of the 60-year-old at the Mt Roskill New World supermarket. 

Four years earlier Okeke – whose family lives in Nigeria – was charged with two counts of money laundering as part of Operation Ida; a case that involved the laundering of at least $18 million. 

The 60-year-old was last seen on April 27 2024 – a day that the police say their inquiries have unearthed that he was also involved in an “altercation” with another man. 

Family in Nigeria reported him missing several days later, after becoming concerned when he stopped answering their phone calls. 

Almost a year on, police - who are treating the case as suspicious - are still piecing together who might be responsible. 

“The investigation into Ronny Okeke’s death is ongoing” a police spokesperson told the Herald. 

“There are no updates of significance to provide ... no charges have been laid at this point.” 

Ronny Okeke was last seen alive at a suburban Auckland supermarket in April 2024. His body was later found in the Kaimai Ranges. Photo / Supplied 

Police investigating Okeke’s disappearance confirmed on June 13 2024 that a body had been found in bush in the Kaimai Ranges by specialist police search and rescue staff. 

“This is news no family ever wants to hear, and they are devastated Ronny will not be coming home,” Detective Inspector Glen Baldwin said at the time. 

Okeke had lived in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham, not far from where he was last spotted in the Mt Roskill supermarket. 

In June, Baldwin described the man who was involved in an altercation with Okeke as a “person of interest”. 

Baldwin said police believe Ronny was “injured as a result”, but they didn’t know what the severity of those injuries might be. 

Police have spoken to the man they say was involved in the altercation with Okeke, with Baldwin saying search warrants were also carried out in Mt Eden and Ramarama. 

Police found Ronny Okeke's body in the Kaimai Ranges after a search carried out by search and rescue staff. Photo / Alex Cairns 

Forensic testing has also been conducted on two vehicles of interest. 

“What we do know is that this altercation occurred, and Ronny has not been heard from since,” Detective Inspector Baldwin said on June 13. 

Detectives have also located Okeke’s phone. 

Police haven’t divulged where they located Okeke’s phone. But Baldwin said in June - in the same press release in which he talked about executing the search warrants - the phone was “an important piece in the puzzle and work is ongoing to interrogate the phone, and extract all possible relevant information”. 

There were no further updates on that work which police could share publicly this week. 

Operation Ida: The multi-million dollar laundering of drug money 

Okeke was linked to the criminal offending taken down by Operation Ida in March 2021, one of three operations police said had targeted and disrupted “Auckland’s high-end money launderers”. 

On the morning of March 21, 2021, the police financial crime group – along with the Armed Offenders Squad and other Auckland officers – carried out 12 search warrants across the city. 

Police restrained more than $10.2m in assets – including houses and luxury cars – as part of the operation. 

Other items restrained as part of the crime bust included 23 bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets which totalled around $1m. Jewellery worth about $200,000 was also seized. 

Ten people were arrested as part of Operation Ida; including Okeke, who was charged with two counts of money laundering. 

This St Heliers property was among four seized by police in Operation Ida. Photo / Bayleys 

Police alleged Okeke was involved in using a Newmarket money remittance business to transfer more than $250,000 in cash to China without proper checks being performed as required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. 

That business was run by Ye “Cathay” Hua, who was later jailed for seven and a half years in prison for money laundering. 

She was found guilty of laundering at least $18 million, mostly at the behest of Xavier Valent, who masterminded one of New Zealand’s largest drug syndicates. 

Valent was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of scores of drugs charges at his own trial. 

The $250,000 of cash Okeke had transferred via Hua’s business was alleged by police to be the proceeds of crime. Okeke was unemployed at the time of his arrest. 

Ronny Okeke originally faced two charges of money laundering as part of Operation Ida. The charges were later withdrawn. Photo / Supplied 

Police later dropped the charges against him. 

Operation Ida came on the back of two earlier police busts with money laundering links – dubbed Brookings and Martinez – which made headlines in late 2020. 

“Money laundering is not a victimless crime and while this may appear like money simply being passed around, it actually represents immeasurable harm that is being imposed on our communities,” Detective Inspector Lloyd Schmid, of the police financial crime group, said after the Operation Ida arrests. 

“It should serve as a warning for those engaged in this sort of offending - expect to be on our radar and held to account for your actions.” 

Anyone with information about Okeke’s disappearance should contact police on 105 and quote the file number 240501/3879. 

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.