Meth mules get nine years

Photo / Martin Sykes

Two smugglers have been have been jailed after trying to bring almost 1kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand by swallowing it.

Lithuanians Zenarars Slipkus and Nerijus Sliupas were stopped by Customs officials when they arrived at Auckland airport from Bangkok last September.

Officials ordered a CT scan and found one had 542.8g of P in his abdomen and the other 329.8g.

The amounts were comparable to about 19 and 12 teabags respectively. The drugs would have had a street value of almost $900,000.

They pleaded guilty to importing P in Manukau District Court shortly after their arrest and were each sentenced to nine years in jail at the High Court at Auckland this month.

During sentencing, Justice Graham Lang said had the men been New Zealand citizens they would have been subject to parole conditions for the rest of their lives.

"That is how seriously our country views the importation of a drug like methamphetamine."

He said life would in a New Zealand prison would be difficult because they could not speak English.

The court heard the men were recruited in Bangkok and claimed they were offered nothing more than a free trip to New Zealand.

"Whatever your motivation, you both agreed to swallow packages containing what you knew to be an illegal substance," the judge said.

"In doing so you must have known that you were taking a risk of being punished severely if you were caught bringing the substance into New Zealand."

Slipkus has a wife and 10-year-old child in Lithuania.