GANGS SEE NZ AS SOFT UNDERBELLY

New Zealand is seen as a soft target by gangs, which launder millions
of dollars through this country, says the head of an Australian police
unit set up to combat Melbourne's criminal underworld.

Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards of Victoria Police told the Police
Association conference in Wellington yesterday that New Zealand needed
to do more to crack down on organised crime.

Mr Edwards heads the Purana Taskforce, set up after a "crisis" of
gangland killings in Melbourne, on which the television drama
Underbelly was based.

New Zealand needed to target organised crime rings, or risk reaching a
crisis point of its own, he said. "Hopefully you realise that you need
to stop it before the problems start. You will get shootings, you will
get killings - if you do nothing about it."

Police Minister Judith Collins told the conference gangs had
infiltrated businesses, and turned legitimate enterprises into
money-laundering outlets. She said examples included:

. The Killer Beez gang owned the hip hop record label Colourways. Its
music videos were thinly disguised recruitment advertisements for the
gang and played on mainstream television.

. Gangs increasingly attended public and community celebrations,
projecting themselves as harmless groups with a strong community
spirit. They had run lotteries, and uniformed police had been sent to
oversee the draws.

. Gangs partnered with businesses in finance, transport, private
security, entertainment, real estate and various trade-related
industries. These partnerships help facilitate their real businesses -
violence, extortion, drug-dealing and money-laundering.

Mrs Collins said gangs existed to make money and gain power, and their
new level of sophistication was presenting a serious challenge.

But the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, which made possible the
seizure of any assets that were probably gained illegally, would help
dismantle organised crime.

Mr Edwards cited one of his taskforce's cases, the busting of a
cannabis-growing operation run by an organised gang. A$2.5 million was
found to have been sent to New Zealand bank accounts from Australia.
It was then sent to Vietnam and its value eventually returned to
Australia in the form of drugs.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the drug trade here
was already leading to money-laundering and violence by organised
groups. "All the things he's talked about are already here."

Police tackling organised crime needed to be tasked with targeting
those at "the highest level", he said, but that could mean no tangible
results in the short term.

Money-laundering - by which criminals try to hide the origin of money
or property gained illegally - was the result of gangs making large
sums from the methamphetamine trade and needing to find legitimate
places for it.

"As a result, they've had to employ legitimate services and have
corrupted a lot of those services in doing so. All of a sudden there's
an unrecognisable line between the business people in New Zealand and
organised criminals."

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism
Bill - passed into law by Parliament last night - was a good start,
but its effectiveness would still rely on police gathering evidence.

Justice Minister Simon Power said crime was estimated to generate
between $500m and $1 billion each year.

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WHAT IS THE PURANA TASKFORCE?

Headed for the past year by Detective Inspector Bernie Edwards, the
Australian unit was set up by Victoria Police in 2003 after a series
of bloody gangland killings rocked Melbourne.

It targets the people at the top of organised criminal groups, as they
control money-laundering rings and drug-trafficking operations which
lead to murders.

The group has seized $80 million worth of assets, including cash,
casinos, nightclubs, properties, racehorses and sports cars.

This year, the force has 55 specialist police officers and a budget of
$3.8 million.

The unit works with forensic accountants, tax specialists and various
intelligence agencies to build up profiles of criminals.