Face of the Day

A senior Comanchero who tried to establish a foothold for the outlaw motorcycle gang in Tonga will spend the rest of his life in prison for drug dealing.

Eneasi Tangi Taumoefolau had lived in Australia for most of his life but had his visa revoked in 2022 on “good character” grounds and was sent to Tonga as a so-called “501” deportee.

He soon moved into the penthouse suite of a hotel in Nuku’alofa and drove around the small Pacific island kingdom in expensive cars, while splashing his wealth across his social media channels.

Previously, influential members of the Comancheros deported as “501s” to New Zealand radically changed the local criminal underworld through their connections to global drug traffickers.

Taumoefolau tried to do the same in Tonga, which was already in the grip of a methamphetamine crisis.

NZ Herald