A former Treaty negotiator is outraged at the Police for recent raids where mokopuna witnessed the arrests of their whānau in Ōpōtiki.
Last Tuesday, Police executed multiple search warrants across Ōpōtiki, Auckland, Taupō, Porirua, Wellington, and the East Coast at properties connected to the Mongrel Mob.
Willie Te Aho, representing Te Aitanga a Mahaki and who led the Te Whānau-a-Apanui Treaty Settlement claim, says 15 houses in the Bay of Plenty town were raided, impacting 93 whānau, with two homes having all adults among the 22 people arrested.
He says the Police left local iwi, Te Whakatōhea, and Ōpōtiki police in the dark about these plans, only engaging with the community a week later.
“They had scheduled a meeting for Wednesday of this week, but with the Minister putting his hand up to attend Ōpōtiki that was left to yesterday morning, so more than a week and a half after the event, that’s the first direct information that Whakatōhea got from the police, even the local police didn’t know what was happening,” says Te Aho.
Willie Te Aho says his primary concern is the 37 mokopuna who had to witness such traumatic events.
