Six Gold-Plated Harley-Davidsons Crushed by Police in Unprecedented Move

In 2019, the New Zealand Police seized NZD$4 million (US$2.5 million) in assets from 18 members of the Comanchero Motorcycle Gang under Operation Nova, including expensive cars, a piece of real estate, high-end jewelry and watches, and six Harley-Davidson motorcycles customized to make them "distinctive" for a Comanchero.

Valued at NZD$96,000 (US$60,000) apiece, the bikes bore vanity license plates and had gold plating on the wheels and body, as well as custom bodywork. All this is in the past tense because the bikes have none of that anymore: police applied to have them crushed in what has been described as a first initiative of the kind.

Standard procedure with assets seized during a criminal investigation involves the Financial Crime Group asking a court for the forfeiture of said assets and the proceeds to go to the consolidation crime fund. This time, the court was asked to grant the destruction of the assets because of their distinctive aesthetics, which made them inexorably linked to the Comanchero.

The court approved the petition late last year, but it has only been carried out now. All six bikes and six license plates were crushed last Friday and will be sold as scrap metal. The proceeds will then go to the same consolidation crime fund.

"It is highly likely both the bikes and license plates would end up back in the hands of the Comancheros," Commissioner Andrew Coster explains. "It would defeat the purpose of the action Police have taken in this investigation."

Not the same can be said about the vehicles seized at the same time with the bikes, including four Range Rover Sports, a Rolls-Royce Wraith, and several "high-end" Mercedes-Benz and Audi cars, none of which presumably have any distinctive custom work. These won't be crushed but sold at auction.

News of the gold-plated Harleys meeting their end at the crusher was met with disapproval online, even among those who support the police's work to stop the expansion of the Comanchero in the country. The Comanchero Motorcycle Gang is Australian but expanded to New Zealand in 2018.

Critics are pointing out that the motorcycles would have been worth more money if sold at auction instead of as scrap metal and that the funds would have ultimately helped the police fight the good fight. While accurate, this argument completely disregards the fact that Commissioner Coster offered a clear explanation for how the decision was made. Those bikes were too flashy for their own good.