Four guilty over Chews Lane drug lab

Chews Lane in Wellington. Photo / Supplied

Four people have been found guilty of a raft of charges in relation to an upmarket apartment P-lab set up opposite the central Wellington police station.

The jury returned guilty verdicts for most of the charges against 24-year-old Kevin Kakada Chea, 23-year-old Kien Trung Dao, 49-year-old Michael Edwin Debreceny and 22-year-old Abby Rae Cummins at the High Court in Wellington yesterday.

Armed police stumbled onto the P-lab in a Wellington apartment on Chews Lane, between Willis St and Victoria St, while executing a search warrant in March 2014.

They found more than 1kg of crystal methamphetamine - with a street value of $1.2m - and about $35,000 in cash from the inner city apartment, as well as from three other central Wellington properties and vehicles.

The Victoria St end of Chews Lane - a well-used pedestrian alley that houses cafes, a bar and apartments - is directly opposite the police and library buildings.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch said it showed P-labs could be set up anywhere.

"The police kind of tripped upon this lab - we didn't realise there would be a lab there, so we weren't prepared for a lab," Mr Leitch said at the time.

At the High Court on Monday, Detective Sergeant George Campbell said the 1.2kg find of methamphetamine was a significant reduction of harm, Fairfax Media reported.

The Crown said three parcels of methamphetamine had been brought into New Zealand disguised by adding plaster and dye in July and October 2013 and February 2014.

But the defence said there was no evidence of what was in the parcels.

Chea was described as a "charismatic" man in court who had methamphetamine convictions from 2011 and Dao was described as his assistant.

Both men were found guilty on two charges of importing methamphetamine, possessing the drug for supply, supplying the drug and four charges of receiving stolen property.

Debreceny, a car repairer, was alleged to have helped organise the delivery of the parcels.

He was found guilty of one charge of importing methamphetamine and Cummins was found guilty of possessing the drug for supply.

The group are all due to be sentenced on July 31.