Two men have pleaded guilty to importing the largest quantity of methamphetamine into the country that landed on Ninety Mile Beach.
Ulakai Fakaosilea, 27, and Jeremia Iusitini, 28, entered their plea in the High Court at Whangarei this morning to importing meth and participating in an organised criminal group.
Police recovered a whopping 494kg of methamphetamine on Ninety Mile Beach, in the Far North, on June 19, 2016.
The majority of the class A drug - 448kg - was found in a campervan at Totara North while the rest was found buried in sand dunes at the beach.
The haul - the largest ever discovered in New Zealand - had an estimated value of $494 million, and outstripped the 334kg of meth seized in New Zealand some years ago.