Drug gang used post boxes to import cocaine, jury told

Two alleged members of an international drugs syndicate sent $3.5 million of cocaine in 259 letters to post office boxes around New Zealand, the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.

Australians Abdalla Ali, 21, and Lei Cai, 25, are said to have posted letters purporting to be from Canadian charities to 100 boxes at 36 Post Shops or agencies in greater Auckland early last year.

Ali, represented by Andrew Speed, and Cai, represented by Peter Kaye, face a representative count of importing and also charges of having the drug for supply.

Prosecutor Bruce Northwood told the jury: "Whatever was going on, it seems to have been part of an international drugs syndicate. There are overseas connections, significantly to Canada, where the drug was dispatched from, and to Australia, where these two accused came from specifically to facilitate the importation into New Zealand."

In total, the 259 envelopes yielded just under 2.6kg of cocaine with a street value of about $3.5 million.

Mr Northwood said another syndicate member, Julio Madrid, who is not on trial, rented a house in Kilimanjaro Drive, Botany Downs, as a base, paying $17,600 in advance.

Part of the plan involved leasing 100 post office boxes at $125 a time in various names around Auckland for the drug to be sent to.

On April 2, Customs officers saw Ali pick up Kai from Auckland Airport.

The next day Customs officers and police watched as they drove to post boxes in Pakuranga, Ellerslie, Panmure and Royal Oak collecting envelopes. They realised they were being followed and drove out of sight into Hall Ave, Mangere, where they disposed of the drug envelopes.

When police later stopped them in central Auckland, they found no envelopes, drugs or box keys.

However, documents relating to post office boxes were found at the Botany Downs property.

Police and Customs then searched other post office boxes around the city. They found 175 envelopes, all purportedly from Canadian charities, each with about 10g of cocaine.

Meanwhile, a woman living in Hall Ave handed in a satchel she had found hidden on her property containing 35 envelopes of cocaine, post office box keys and rental papers.

Mr Northwood said that on April 23, suspicious staff at the Mangere Bridge Post Shop refused to let Ali pick up four envelopes from Canada.

They contained cocaine.

The new occupants of the Botany Downs house found a further 45 envelopes of cocaine in a sliding door cavity. Mr Northwood said the pair's fingerprints were on some of them.

Ali told police on video he was instructed to pick up envelopes and not look inside. He refused to say who gave the orders, saying he would not put his life at risk.

The trial before Justice John Laurenson is expected to take two weeks.