Christchurch’s Jamie Richard Pope caught drug dealing, importing meth, while on community detention

Jamie Pope imported quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine while on community detention.

A man who imported methamphetamine and cocaine from Europe and Canada while on a police curfew will now be locked down around the clock after Customs intercepted his packages.

Jamie Richard Pope was serving a sentence of community detention for firearms charges when Customs contacted police to advise of two drug intercepts destined for his Christchurch address.

Customs then nabbed a further three packages.

Pope is now serving home detention after appearing in the Christchurch District Court on charges of importing methamphetamine and cocaine and supplying ecstasy.

According to a summary of facts, a red flag was raised in April 2024 when the packages bound for Pope’s house were intercepted.

The first contained 12.4g of methamphetamine sent from France. The second package, from the Netherlands, held 12.2g of methamphetamine.

A third package, from Canada, was intercepted the following month containing 17.2g of methamphetamine.

In July, a fourth package, also from Canada, was sent containing 16.5g of methamphetamine. Six days later, another package containing 5.7g of cocaine was intercepted.

A subsequent search of Pope’s cell phone records showed he had been discussing drug deals with several people.

“I’m on curfue atm bro so early nights for me; but if you after any I got heaps atm do ya cheap and I got mdma also,” he texted one person in May last year.

“Got bags at 200 ea obv u owe $100 still though but yeah once that paid can do yah g’z at 200,” he sent in June to three people.

Following his arrest, Pope claimed he had been set up, telling police he knew some “undesirable people” who could have used his name and address for the drug imports.

When questioned about his offer to supply ecstasy, he told police the drug-related talk could have meant something else.

In court, Judge Mark Callaghan said Pope was on community detention at the time of the offending and had been in the throes of addiction.

He said the offending was premeditated as Pope used an encrypted app to communicate, and described it as that of a medium-level street dealer.

However, Pope had taken steps to address his drug use, and a presentence report indicated a low likelihood of reoffending, the judge said.

He took a starting point of three years in prison, giving credit for Pope’s guilty pleas and rehabilitation efforts.

Pope had already spent eight months on electronic bail, which was also considered, and an end sentence of seven months’ home detention was handed down.

Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the HC Post, based in Whangamata. He was previously deputy editor of Cook Islands News.