Australians arrested after Queenstown drugs sting

Two Australian men were arrested at the weekend for allegedly importing drugs into Queenstown following a joint police and Customs clampdown in the winter ski resort.

Jim Karamanavis, 32, of Melbourne, appeared in Invercargill District Court yesterday accused of importing cocaine, a class A drug, into New Zealand.

He was remanded until today, when his solicitor John Fraser said a plea was likely to be entered.

Karamanavis was intercepted by police and customs officials after arriving at Queenstown Airport with a group of friends on a skiing holiday from Australia on Sunday, police said.

In a separate incident, a 21-year-old South Australian man was also arrested in Queenstown at the weekend charged with importing cannabis, a Class C controlled drug, by mail into New Zealand on August 11.

The man, who was also on a skiing holiday in Queenstown, made a brief appearance in Queenstown District Court yesterday morning and remanded on bail to appear in Dunedin District Court today.

- NZPA