Record P bust on Ninety Mile Beach brings 22-year jail sentence

The abandoned boat on Ninety Mile Beach that led to the record-breaking methamphetamine haul in June last year.

One of the men behind New Zealand's largest ever methamphetamine bust - 501kg that had been landed on Ninety Mile Beach - has been jailed for 22 years.

Amoki Matoto Fonua, 32, from Auckland, appeared for sentence in the High Court at Whangarei on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to charges of importing methamphetamine - or P as it is commonly known - possessing methamphetamine and participating in an organised criminal group.

Justice Graham Lang suppressed most of the sentencing information, but allowed the Northern Advocate to report the outcome.

Fonua was arrested along with at least six other people after the drug was landed on Ninety Mile Beach in June last year.

Justice Lang said the maximum penalty for the methamphetamine charges was life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

His starting point for Fonua was 30 years' imprisonment. After giving a discount for the guilty plea and other personal circumstances, he sentenced Fonua to 22 years' jail, with a non-parole period of 8 years and 9 months on the methamphetamine charges.

Justice Lang also sentenced Fonua to 5 years' jail on the charge of participating in an organised criminal group. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

The 501 kg of P recovered by police is the largest amount of methamphetamine ever found in New Zealand and was discovered after Far North locals became suspicious.

Observant locals called police after noticing the occupants of several vehicles acting suspiciously in the area for a fortnight, and trying to launch boats off the west coast.

Police found a boat abandoned on Ninety Mile Beach and began searching for a Toyota Prado and a rental campervan, as the occupants had been seen trying to launch boats in the area.

Members of the public told police that the men driving the campervan and the Toyota had been offering large amounts of cash in exchange for help to launch the boats.