The leader of the Killer Beez gang has been released from prison, despite a psychologist saying there is a high to moderate risk of him reoffending.
Joshua James Masters, the 40-year-old former kickboxing champion, was arrested in 2008 in a covert drug sting called Operation Leo, which involved nearly 100 police and members of the armed offender squad.
He was sentenced to 10 years, five months imprisonment in 2012 for dealing P and money laundering, after spending four years behind bars in remand.
Masters has been denied parole numerous times, but in its May decision the Parole Board said he was no longer an undue risk to the safety of the community.
But his release comes despite a psychologist assessing him as posing a high to moderate level risk of reoffending, NZME reports.
Masters will have 14 special conditions to his release, including not associating with other gang members, not consuming alcohol, keeping to a strict curfew and being subject to GPS monitoring.
The conditions will remain in force until six months after his sentence finishes, according to NZME.
The Killer Beez was founded by Masters in the mid-2000s, with the leader declaring it as a way to help south Auckland children out of poverty.
During the 2008 drug sting, police seized $500,000 worth of P and cannabis, $20,000 cash and stolen property.
Masters allegedly continued to run the Killer Beez from prison, with the gang most recently allegedly involved in a 2013 Waikato prison riot, as well as attacks on guards at Auckland Prison in 2016.
Newshub.
