Man convicted in Tonga of involvement with Comancheros group — ABC News Australia

A court in Tonga found Eneasi Taumoefolau guilty of participating in an organised criminal group under the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Organised Crime Act. The case concerned his role in establishing a chapter of the Comancheros bikie group in the country. This is the first time the law has been tested in court. Taumoefolau faces up to 25 years in prison, and he will be sentenced at a later date, ABC News reports.

Evidence in the case

According to court documents, Taumoefolau was the president of the Comancheros chapter in Tonga. Judge Elisapeti Langi noted that he was regularly seen wearing Comanchero vests and riding a motorcycle bearing the group’s insignia. At a storage facility rented in his partner’s name, police found Comanchero T-shirts, vests, patches and insignia.

The court also considered phone messages and conversations between the four defendants. Case materials indicate that Taumoefolau was in regular contact with Tevita Shoji, who was a prospective member of the group.

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Other defendants and appeal

Shoji, who was deported from New Zealand, was also found guilty in the same case. Two other people deported from Australia — Lolomana’ia Tilini and Sione Tafokitau — were acquitted by the court.

Taumoefolau denied that he had established a Comancheros chapter in Tonga. He told ABC News that he had had such plans but abandoned them. The man plans to appeal this decision, as well as his conviction in a drug case.

Separately, Taumoefolau is already serving a life sentence. In 2025, he was convicted of importing more than 2 kg of methamphetamine into Tonga from the United States. Since March, he has been held in a solitary confinement cell at the country’s main prison; neither he nor prison representatives could confirm the reason for his transfer from the general prison population.