Drug ingredient in imported cushions

Cushions mailed from China contained enough of the key ingredient in methamphetamine to make up to $3.3 million worth of P, Christchurch District Court was told today.

Customs officers in Auckland became suspicious about the weight of the package and unstitched one of the eight cushions inside, exposing a series of Ziplock bags.

Prosecutor Craig Ruane told a depositions hearing the other cushions were also unstitched, revealing 50 Ziplock bags containing around 11kg of a cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in manufacturing methamphetamine.

The discovery spurred a massive undercover sting operation that culminated in the arrests in Christchurch of Chinese nationals Jian Qi, Li Yong and Lin Xie.

Yong, 34, unemployed, Qi, 26, a student, and Xie, 27, a student, have been charged with importing a prescription medicine and illegal possession of a precursor substance.

Mr Ruane said that on October 5 last year the package containing the drug-filled cushions was intercepted in Auckland en route to Christchurch.

Customs officers replaced the pseudoephedrine with brown sugar, and made contact with the cellphone given on documentation by the purported recipient, Li Xiang.

A customs agent flew to Christchurch with the package and, dressed as a courier driver, delivered it to an Addington home. During covert surveillance, a vehicle registered to Li Yong, one of the accused, arrived and the driver collected the package.

He then drove to a home in Cashmere, which police raided and located all three defendants, Mr Ruane said.

"When the police arrived, Yong and Xie were in the process of flushing remaining granules of pseudoephedrine down the toilet," he said.

"The cardboard box and the brown sugar granules were found hidden in a wardrobe in a room occupied by Yong and Xie."

A further search located documentation relating to a freight agency and a false Chinese passport.

The hearing continues.

- NZPA