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Police obtained a restraining order under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009.
The assets restrained include two Hastings houses, three cars, a motorcycle and $68,000 in cash.
A man was arrested and charged with multiple drug-related offences, including possession of methamphetamine for supply.
Police have obtained a restraining order over two houses, three cars, a motorcycle and $68,000 in cash found in a Louis Vuitton handbag and allegedly linked to $1.5 million worth of methamphetamine dealing.
The assets belong to a couple and include two Hastings houses – one in Flaxmere and one in Camberley – which are registered in the woman’s name.
Court documents say the couple have had a joint declared income of less than $17,000 a year since 2018 and allegedly lived a lifestyle that didn’t match it – with expensive holidays, the purchase of high-value vehicles and extensive property renovations being carried out.
Police raided and searched several properties linked to the couple on March 12 this year. The man was found by police and arrested several days later.
Police found a Louis Vuitton handbag containing $68,000 when they searched a house near Tauranga. File photo / NZME
He was charged with possession of methamphetamine for supply, supplying methamphetamine, participation in an organised criminal group, unlawful possession of a firearm and failing to carry out obligations regarding a computer search.
Police found just over $70,000 in cash, including the money in the handbag, at a house the couple were renting near Tauranga.
They also found a pistol and ammunition, along with a money-counting machine and multiple mobile phones, items commonly associated with drug-dealing.
In an application to the High Court seeking a restraining order over the couple’s assets, police also said they had analysed encrypted messaging from the man’s phones.
They alleged the messages were “consistent with methamphetamine distribution, which is said to involve at least 11kg [of the drug] with a purchase price of at least $1.54 million”.
The application was made under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, which allows assets “tainted” by significant criminal activity to be forfeited to the Crown.
The seizure of assets is commonly a two-stage process – police seek a restraining order early in the case to stop assets being disposed of, and then apply for a forfeiture order, often much later when the associated criminal proceedings have been resolved.
In this case, the police application was served on the man in prison. He is next due to appear in the Manukau District Court in February.
Neither the man nor the woman opposed the restraining order application and it was granted by High Court Justice Karen Grau, to run until July 16, 2025.
The police application said the handbag containing $68,100 was found at a property the couple were renting near Tauranga. Officers also found another $2062 in a television cabinet, and $2000 in a Mazda ute parked outside.
The Mazda, a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro and a classic Ford Falcon, registered in the names of relatives of the man, were also included in the restraining order.
So was a bank account belonging to the woman. The application did not say how much was in it.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
