A Tribesmen gang member caught with more than $200,000 at his holiday park cabin told police it was his life savings - but it was seized by police and forfeited to the Crown.

On November 9, 2017, police found $200,040 alongside cannabis and drug paraphernalia in Dennis Haunui’s cabin at Pine Acres Holiday Park near Christchurch.

Haunui claimed that the cash was his life savings but Christchurch High Court Judge Jonathan Eaton ruled the explanation implausible.

“A review of his personal bank accounts and his Inland Revenue records provide no support for that explanation,” said Judge Eaton.

In a written decision, Eaton declared the money tainted based on evidence supplied by “Detective Bruce” that included Haunui’s associations to the Tribesmen gang and previous convictions for supply of methamphetamine, selling methamphetamine and participating in an organised criminal group among other drug offending.

The money was found among cannabis, two glass pipes used to smoke methamphetamine, a notebook including entries indicating a tick list and two cell phones indicating use of multiple phones.

Bruce’s evidence also included details about multiple trips Hauanui made between Christchurch and areas across the North Island between April and September last year.

Eaton said Haunui’s travel movements were more consistent with drug-related activity than legitimate activity.

“Having reviewed the evidence of Detective Bruce, I am satisfied that the cash is tainted property as it was acquired as a result of, or derived directly or indirectly from, significant criminal activity,” said Judge Eaton.

Haunui did not take an active role in the hearing, his lawyer Andrew Bailey says Haunui wanted the court to determine the application solely on the evidence provided.

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Over the past 10 years police have restrained more than $1b in assets alleged to be the proceeds of crime, with annual sums rising sharply over the course of the decade and increasingly dominated by a handful of international whales whose use of New Zealand is more as laundering territory than feeding ground.

Three individuals subject to restraint orders, out of a total of 815 issued since 2012, make up more than a quarter of the money seized over the decade.

Forfeited assets are sold and paid into a contestable fund accessible by government agencies for specific projects. This year Cabinet approved the fund, flush with record seizures, to dish out tens of millions to the likes of Youthline and the Christchurch City Mission.