High-flyers in record $9m drug bust

High-flying Auckland businessmen are accused of drug-smuggling as part of a $9 million methamphetamine ring.

Three men appeared in the Auckland District Court this week after electronic surveillance by police led to what is believed to be the largest seizure of pure methamphetamine, the drug known as P.

The ring has been described as a sophisticated import-export business.

Suppression orders prevent publication of the names of the accused. One of them runs a string of successful Auckland central business outlets, while another was a board member of a highly respected school.

The trio have been charged separately - two are accused of importing a class A drug and possession for supply, and one faces a charge of conspiracy to import. The Auckland police drug squad expects to lay more counts.

Police allegedly recovered 9kg of methamphetamine that was destined for Japan. It is understood that a key part of the ring involved using upstanding businessmen as drug couriers.

They were selected for the job because they would not attract attention as they passed through border controls.

The case comes after a year in which pure methamphetamine has risen to become the most talked about and feared drug in the country.

Figures released last September showed New Zealand was one of the three worst nations in the world for use of methamphetamines.

Further research released in January revealed use of the killer drug had spread beyond its traditional dance party subculture and into the wider community.

Most disturbingly, P has been cited as a factor in several brutal crimes, including the murder of Coral-Ellen Burrows by her stepfather Steve Williams, and the murders of pizza parlour worker Marcus Doig and bank teller John Vaughan, both shot by gunman Ese Junior Falealii.

The scourge of P has led to calls from all corners of society to wage war on those who supply the drug.

The latest seizure comes just a month after Police Commissioner Rob Robinson said he was optimistic that methamphetamine-related crime had stabilised.