Hawke’s Bay meth dealer used child’s sickness to bring drugs through Auckland’s Covid checkpoints

The police Covid checkpoints on Auckland's southern border Ngawi Westrupp smuggled meth through. Photo / Dean Purcell

A drug dealer used a sick child’s medical pass to get through Auckland boundary checkpoints during the Covid-era lockdown period as he moved wholesale amounts of methamphetamine to Hawke’s Bay.

Auckland spent more than 100 days in lockdown, starting in August 2021.

During that lockdown, in late November and early December 2021, Ngawi Hokianga Anthony Westrupp, now 44, was in Auckland with $100,000 from the Wairoa Mongrel Mob, shopping for meth.

According to a Crown summary of facts filed in the Napier District Court, Westrupp was able to get through Covid checkpoints because one of his children was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

But he did not know police had placed a listening device in the home of a Mongrel Mob member where drug deals were being discussed.

One mobster was overheard saying he was waiting for an associate, who had managed to get into Auckland despite Covid restrictions, to return with half a kilogram of meth.

Westrupp’s phone records showed that he was in Auckland between November 30 and December 4, 2021.

CCTV footage showed his Hyundai Santa Fe vehicle was being driven around Auckland suburbs.

He left Auckland on December 5. On December 6, police intercepted a phone call between Westrupp and his associate in which they arranged a meeting in Taradale, Napier.

CCTV footage from nearby businesses showed the Hyundai and a black Ford Ranger belonging to the associate parked side-by-side at the carpark rendezvous. Westrupp got out of his vehicle and sat in the passenger seat of the Ford.

Immediately afterwards, the associate’s phone records show him contacting customers to let them know he had methamphetamine for sale.

The Crown summary said Westrupp supplied at least 400g of the drug.

Westrupp, his partner and two children, aged 2 and 3, were on their way back from another trip to Auckland late in the evening on December 29, 2021 when they were stopped by police at Eskdale, north of Napier.

Police had a warrant to search the vehicle and found a backpack. Westrupp told them they would find meth in it. In fact, the bag contained N-isopropylbenzylamine, a cutting agent used to adulterate meth.

Police also found another bag containing electronic scales, ziplock bags and about $4000 in $50 notes.

Methamphetamine seized by police in February 2022 after an investigation centred on Wairoa. Photo / NZ Police

Westrupp appeared in the Napier District Court on Friday, while wearing a korowai, for sentencing for possessing and supplying methamphetamine, and conspiracy to supply the drug.

The summary of facts said Westrupp had supplied one associate with meth, and had been found in possession of what he believed was meth, intended for another supply chain.

He had also sought to obtain another kilogram from Port Waikato, but had been unsuccessful.

Westrupp was jailed for three years, even though Judge Bridget Mackintosh acknowledged he had made “good efforts and good progress” in a residential rehabilitation programme while on electronically monitored bail.

Judge Mackintosh said Westrupp’s life now was very different from when he was arrested by police two years ago.

His counsel, Matthew Phelps, argued for a sentence of home detention.

He said Westrupp, a patched member of the Mongrel Mob’s “Mongrelizm” chapter, has had no contact with other gang members in the last two years, other than those coming through the rehabilitation programme.

However, Judge Mackintosh said Westrupp’s crimes amounted to “very serious offending” and the Crown had argued that the end sentence would not come below the threshold of two years in jail, where home detention is an option.

She gave Westrupp sentencing discounts for his guilty plea, his rehabilitation efforts and the time spent on electronically monitored bail, but this still resulted in a three-year prison term.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.