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Wanted man caught after 8 months on the run

20 August 2005
By SIMON O'ROURKE

One of New Zealand's most wanted men is behind bars after a marathon eight-month manhunt.
 

 

Murder suspect Kim Bruce Smith, 41, was arrested yesterday after Auckland and Hamilton armed offender squad members raided a Patumahoe property northwest of Pukekohe.

He will appear in the Hamilton District Court today.

Smith, a senior Outcasts gang member, had been on the run since December, when he failed to appear in court to face firearms, drugs, violence and robbery charges.

On June 7 police stepped up inquiries after the fatal shooting of Dwayne Andre Wilson at his Waingaro home.

Wilson was a Tribesmen motorcycle gang member, and Smith was wanted for questioning in connection to the killing. A drug lab was found at the Waingaro property, where it was believed Wilson had been harbouring Smith.

In July armed police raided Te Awamutu, Pirongia and Kawhia homes looking for clues to the murder.

three weeks later police believed Smith just avoided their clutches at what was thought to be his hideout in bush south of Port Waikato.

It was understood Smith's departure was rapid because an arsenal of weapons worth tens of thousands of dollars was abandoned. They included an M16 assault rifle, a CAR-15 assault rifle, an AK-47, a semi-automatic shotgun, a Heckler and Koch sniper rifle and G53 assault rifle, and pistols.

Roadblocks were set up, dozens of police sent into steep bush, and a Police Eagle and two Air Force Iroquois helicopters used plus high-tech thermal imagery tracking cameras, but Smith slipped the cordon

 

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