A jury must decide whether the 'Wheelman” has been telling twisted tales of his travels, or if his account of delivering drugs, guns and money for the Mongols is straight and true.

A gang insider-turned-secret Crown witness – who covertly communicated with his former comrades under the code name 'Wheelman” – spent much of Monday getting a grilling from several lawyers acting for senior members and associates of the gang.

But whether those lawyers have effectively cast enough doubt on the veracity of the witness's evidence may not be known until the conclusion of the 10-week High Court trial in Hamilton, where nine senior members of the gang are facing a raft of drugs and weapons charges.

Following a covert surveillance operation, police arrested the entire senior hierarchy of the gang in June 2020.

At the time the police said a gang war was brewing in the Bay of Plenty region, with numerous groups battling for the lion's share of the drug market there.

Among those also on trial is the Mongols' national president, Jim David Thacker, also known as JD; Hone 'H1” Ronaki; sergeant-at-arms Leon 'Wolf” Huritu; Jason '666” Ross; Kelly 'Rhino” Petrowski; Matthew Ramsden; Kane Ronaki; Te Reneti Tarau; and another man who has interim name suppression.

Since Monday last week the court has been hearing evidence from 'Wheelman”, whose real identity has been suppressed.

The man, who is appearing in court via audio-visual link from another location, specialised in transporting drugs, guns and money to and from the Bay of Plenty for the gang, but was not a patched member.

Many aspects of the witness's account were queried by the lawyers.

Ben Smith, who is acting for the defendant with name suppression, asked the witness about the first meeting between him and his client, in the car park of a McDonald's restaurant near Auckland Airport in June 2019.

While giving evidence the witness had said the defendant had been driving a silver Toyota RAV4.

However, Smith said this could not have been so because, even though his client owned such a vehicle, it had not been registered in New Zealand until November 5 of that year – and at that time it had travelled only three kilometres.

Thomas Harre, who is acting on behalf of Ross – the gang's top man in Christchurch – grilled the witness at length about his travels to and from Christchurch, including the times of ferry sailings.

Wheelman said he had not kept a record of his trips. Also, he did not use his own eftpos card to pay for all of his travel expenses.

Sometimes he used 'prezzy cards” and sometimes his partner contributed to the cost.

Thus, his transactions told an only partial account of his journeys.

”I can't put dates and times on it. I just remember specific events,” the witness said.

Like Thacker's lawyer Bill Nabney and Hone Ronaki's counsel Ron Mansfield QC, Harre suggested to the witness that he had been lying about his courier activities.

”You have fabricated this entire story to facilitate your personal vendetta against the Mongols,” Harre said to him.

”I have a personal problem against the Mongols after what they did to my family,” the witness replied. 'Nothing is made up. Everything is factual.”

The witness had, on Friday, alleged a group of Mongols bikies lead by Hone Ronaki had attempted to force a car with his partner, children and mother inside it off the road in the Bay of Plenty, about the time the police arrested the Mongols' leaders.

”I would not sit here and make this up and risk my life for a bunch of lies.”

At times, the witness's response to cross-examination was curt.

”How old are you?” asked Petrowski's counsel Steven Lack.

'Old enough,” the witness replied.

The sharp reply prompted Justice Melanie Harland to step in.

”What is the relevance of this?” she asked the lawyer. Lack said he was merely attempting to determine the witness's level of experience.

The judge's response drew a ripple of laughter from some of those in the dock and the public gallery: 'I think it's obvious enough. He is an adult.”

The trial continues.

-Stuff/Mike Mather.