A Mongrel Mob president who was a key figure in a controversial methamphetamine rehabilitation scheme for gang members has died.

Tributes to Sonny Smith, the national head of the Notorious chapter of the gang, began appearing on a public social media profile understood to belong to him on Thursday morning.

Tukituki MP Catherine Wedd said she had been briefed about Smith’s passing and had spoken with police.

She said there was likely to be increased gang numbers in Hawke’s Bay, particularly Central Hawke’s Bay, where Smith lived.

At 9am on Thursday, a large group of Mongrel Mob members pulled up at Hawke’s Bay Hospital, where it’s understood Smith was undergoing treatment for a terminal illness.

A convoy was then seen travelling south through Hastings, towards Waipawa, with reports of cars and bikes driven by gang members going through red lights and gesturing at passersby.

A Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora spokeswoman referred Hawke’s Bay Today questions to police.

Smith helped host the Mongrel Mob-led Kahukura drug rehabilitation programme, which was given $2.75 million in funding from the Government in 2021.

The programme was based at Tapairu Marae, outside of Waipawa, with part of the programme reportedly involving activities off the marae, including “gardening work” at the home of the 60-year-old and his wife Mahinaarangi Smith.

Smith was convicted and given a six-month suspended sentence in 2021 after a stun gun was found during a police search of his Waipawa home.

Patched Mongrel Mob members outside Hawke's Bay Hospital on Thursday morning. Photo / Paul Taylor

He spent two years in jail in 2010 for an attack on a fellow gang member.

Hawke’s Bay Area Commander Lincoln Sycamore said police were aware of the death of “a well-known Central Hawke’s Bay gang member” and were in contact with his whānau around plans for tangi to begin in the coming days.

Sycamore said additional police would be called into Hawke’s Bay to ensure the safety of the community and to monitor traffic movement.

“Anti-social or unlawful behaviour and driving-related offending will not be tolerated. Any such behaviour will be met with enforcement action, whether at the time or after the fact,” Sycamore said.

“Everyone in the community has the right to be safe and feel safe. If you witness unlawful behaviour please contact police on 111 if there is immediate danger, or 105 after the fact.”

Those reporting such behaviour should use the file number 240514/0870, he said.

The programme was based at Tapairu Marae, with part of the programme reportedly involving activities off the marae, including “gardening work” at the home of Sonny Smith.

Kahukura funding: The political fallout

In 2021, the Kahukura funding turned into a political storm, with National, then in opposition, relentlessly criticising Dame Jacinda Ardern’s Government for granting it.

A senior Hawke’s Bay police officer focused on busting organised criminal groups also publicly criticised the funding.

In a letter published by the Police Association magazine, the supervisor in the region’s Organised Crime Unit spoke of his frustration at the money coming out of the Proceeds of Crime Fund.

Detective Sergeant Mark Moorhouse said in his letter he needed to “call BS” on claims by politicians the programme had been supported by local cops: “The bulk of us don’t support it”.

“My gang-focus staff have for the past two years fought tooth-and-nail to confront the violence and insidious harm the Mongrel Mob, in particular, have unleashed in our community,” he wrote in 2021.

“They openly flaunt the wealth they generate from the poison they infuse our communities with.”

He said the seizure of “huge amounts of firearms, drugs and assets” had been spoiled by giving the $2.75m to Harry Tam-led organisation Hard2Reach.

“Now you want to tell us that nearly $3m worth of our blood, sweat and tears is going to be allocated to a scheme that only allows the individuals who are responsible for causing the harm to be enrolled in it, to the detriment of more worthy causes, and then tell the country that the Hawke’s Bay police support it.

“I have seen no evidence from any gang or their leaders that they wish to distance themselves from the wealth they are generating from peddling this poison in our community.”