Interim suppression of the names of three Western Bay of Plenty men charged with murder expired at 5pm today.
Mark Haimona Puata, 50, Te Puke, is accused of murdering Darrell James Crawford on or about August 12, 2007, and William Taikato on or about December 19 last year.
Two Tauranga men, John Aitken, 33, and David Peter James Anderson, 41, both of Welcome Bay, are also charged with Mr Taikato's murder.
The trio were arrested on Monday morning and appeared briefly in Tauranga District Court that afternoon.
Judge Louis Bidois ordered their names not be published until the trio had had time to inform their families.
All have been remanded in custody to appear again on October 14.
The arrests have come after months of a police investigation into the separate disappearances of Mr Crawford, 35, and Mr Taikato, a 40-year-old father-of-two.
Since they were last seen, neither man has contacted family or accessed bank accounts.
Although their bodies have not yet been found, police say they are confident the two men have been murdered in relation to their involvement with methamphetamine.
The pair, who knew each other casually, were heavily involved in drugs and had ties to the Mongrel Mob and Greasy Dogs gangs in Tauranga, Detective Inspector Rob Jones said.
Meanwhile, the murder investigations, Operation Burd and Operation Orca, were continuing and more arrests were expected.
In each case, a $50,000 reward is being offered for information.
