Armed police guard dealer's sentencing

Nicholas Voerman supplied Ecstasy worth $400,000. Photo / NZ Herald

Armed police guarded a central figure in an alleged multimillion-dollar drug ring when he appeared in the High Court at Auckland and was jailed for dealing Ecstasy.

Nicholas Henri Voerman, 52, pleaded guilty to supplying an estimated 16,000 pills with a street value of $400,000 and was jailed for three years by Justice Chris Allan.

Nicknamed the Fisherman, Voerman confessed his crimes in a wide-ranging interview with the Weekend Herald three weeks before admitting 12 charges of supplying the Class B drug in June.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 14 years' prison but the three-year sentence for Voerman reflected his guilty plea, co-operation with police and what Justice Allan described as "other aspects of your personal circumstances".

Voerman was arrested and charged in July last year after an undercover police operation bugged the phones and homes of the alleged drug syndicate.

Much of what Voerman told the Weekend Herald is now suppressed but Justice Allan said the former charter boat captain had purchased "substantial quantities" of Ecstasy and on-sold it.

"In other words, you were not the mastermind of the operation, but on the other hand, neither were you a retail seller," said Justice Allan.

"You were a middleman, or wholesaler, in a substantial operation which, over many months, involved dealing in many thousands of Ecstasy tablets."

In the earlier interview, Voerman said he was not worried about going to jail and planned to write a book while behind bars.

"I'm a realist. Drug dealing is a numbers game, eventually you get caught out. You play with fire, you get burned. You do your time, you get out."

Asked whether he regretted his criminal activity, Voerman said he knew he was breaking the law but believed dealing E was a "victimless crime".

"I'm not a murderer, a rapist or a paedophile. I'm a drug dealer. I sell pills. I made good money and lived the high life," he says. "I've lived a colourful life for 30 years. After all that great fun, going to prison is the tax I have to pay."

The title of his planned book? Old Man on the Dancefloor.