An alleged international drug kingpin who left New Zealand more than 10 years ago and was extradited back from Europe will fight the charges.
Rokas Karpavicius appeared at the High Court at Auckland today (Wed) where his lawyer Graeme Newell said his client was pleading not guilty to charges of importing class A and class B drugs, as well as money laundering.
Justice Timothy Brewer remanded Karpavicius in custody and set a trial date for 10 days in October.
Mr Newell also said he would be making an application for a stay of proceedings which would prevent the case going to trial.
Karpavicius arrived at Auckland International Airport in October, escorted by two drug detectives who flew to Latvia and took him into custody.
