Man found with $100K in cash and $160K worth of meth in armed police stop after Christchurch terrorist arrested

The case can be revealed following guilty pleas by Benjamin Jaye Smith in the Christchurch District Court. Photo / George Heard

An armed cordon set up after the arrest of the March 15 terrorist resulted in the arrest of a man with $160,000 worth of methamphetamine and more than $100,000 cash.

The case can be revealed following guilty pleas by Benjamin Jaye Smith in the Christchurch District Court. Smith is set to be sentenced on May 24, 2023.

According to the summary of facts, as the mosque gunman was arrested on March 15, 2019, he indicated to police he had bombs inside his car.

Armed cordon points were set up to secure and contain a 250m area radius of his car due to the IED in the boot of his car and the possibility it may explode prior to being made safe.

The terrorist also told police there were nine active shooters in the city. Police staff were advised there were likely other people and vehicles outstanding in relation to the shootings.

About 3.30pm Smith was driving his car in a northerly direction at speed on Strickland St, Spreydon.

An armed police officer stationed at a cordon point on Strickland St heard his car approaching the cordon at speed and believed the car was not going to stop. As Smith came around a blind corner, he stopped abruptly behind a row of cars already stopped at the cordon point.

An armed police officer then approached Smith’s car and conducted an armed vehicle stop. He then invoked a Search and Surveillance Act search of the car after seeing the butt of a sawn-off rifle in the boot.

The officer found a sawn off .22 calibre pistol about 750mm in length with one round of ammunition in the chamber. A silencer was also located in the car.

Inside the magazine attached to the pistol were five rounds of .22 calibre ammunition.

The car was then towed and secured at the Christchurch South Police Station.

The following day police searched the car again.

Inside was an electronic cash counting machine and a sentry safe containing $108,860 cash and 921 grams of methamphetamine.

The methamphetamine was worth about $160,000.

Text messages revealed Smith supplied controlled drugs, likely to be methamphetamine, to a person who then sold it to various people in the Tasman area. He would then collect cash from his sales and regularly report back to Smith and deposit cash into bank accounts controlled by Smith.

The summary of facts said Smith was a supplier of “significant quantities of methamphetamine” to at least six different people between February 1 and March 15 2019. The cash turnover from the drug dealing was in the thousands of dollars.

“The seizure of drugs and cash on 15 March 2019 combined with the telecommunications data from the defendant’s cellphone identifies the defendant as a major dealer/high-volume supplier of methamphetamine and a distribution network located throughout the South Island and lower North Island.”

Smith showed a leadership position and people underneath him would regularly report back to him regarding sales and the cash they were holding.

On the evening of his arrest Smith exercised his rights to silence, but later admitted his knowledge and possession of the firearm.

On April 3, 2019, Smith was questioned in relation to the other items located in his car. He admitted the cash was his, but declined to comment on the safe and its contents.