Rokas Karpavicius living the high life in Europe before his arrest in Latvia. Photo / Supplied.
Rokas Karpavicius living the high life in Europe before his arrest in Latvia. Photo / Supplied.
His fingerprints were found on a Harry Potter book and Rokas Karpavicius was extradited to New Zealand. Now the drug smuggling "mastermind" is being deported home.
The "mastermind" of an international drug ring who lived a playboy lifestyle while raking in millions of dollars will be deported tomorrow.
Rokas Karpavicius was released from prison by the Parole Board last week and is now in police custody before being "de-extradited" to his homeland of Lithuania.
Given the removal order, the Parole Board considered Karpavicius would not "pose an undue risk" to the community.
He will leave on a flight from Auckland International Airport a free man, a little more than four years after landing there after being extradited on serious drug and money laundering charges.
After two trials, Karpavicius was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for smuggling huge shipments of Ecstasy into Auckland, as well as LSD, and laundering more than $2.25 million with human "money mules".
"You were the guiding force and mastermind behind the whole operation," said Justice Rebecca Ellis at the sentencing hearing.
"Very considerable quantities of valuable drugs must have been sent to New Zealand by you. "The damage you have done to the citizens of this country is immeasurable."
But neither jury were told it was the second time the Lithuanian national was at the centre of a New Zealand drug investigation.
Rokas Karpavicius was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison. Photo / Chris Gorman.
Suppression orders were later lifted to reveal Karpavicius was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine in 1999 but escaped overseas two years later while on bail.
Just 21 at the time, he disappeared on a false passport while on a $100,000 bond and evaded authorities until his name resurfaced in Operation Keyboard.
His fingerprints were found on a Harry Potter book couriered from Spain to Auckland with LSD, a class A drug, hidden in the spine and drug squad detectives also tapped phone calls between Karpavicius and Ronald Terrence Brown, a career criminal who headed the New Zealand arm of the syndicate.
Ronald Terrence Brown was the New Zealand head of an international drug trafficking syndicate. Photo / Supplied.
A godfather figure in the underworld, Brown owned an Auckland nightclub, the K Rd Ball Room, and paid cash for six luxury cars, including a late model Porsche 911.
But he was imprisoned for 11 and a half years in 2010 after admitting smuggling ecstasy, methamphetamine and LSD, and also charges of using a false passport and laundering more than $4 million.
Brown - who has a long string of convictions - used the false passport to visit Karpavicius in Spain.
But Karpavicius, who sent the drugs to New Zealand inside granite sculptures, had yet to be caught.
Photos showed him living in luxury; lounging on a yacht launch in Europe surrounded by attractive women.
Rokas Karpavicius (right) living the high life in Europe. Photo / Supplied.
A year later, he was taken into police custody in Latvia as he travelled to Turkey.
A "red notice" posted by Interpol had alerted border authorities to the serious drugs charges the fugitive faced in New Zealand.
In late 2012, two detectives from the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand flew to Riga, the capital of Latvia, to extradite him back to Auckland.
He refused to talk to them on the 30-hour flight; apparently concerned that they would match his voice to the one heard on the bugged conversations.
Wealthy and well-connected, Karpavicius was considered an extreme flight risk and the trip was planned so the time spent in transit at each airport was as little as possible to limit his chances of escape.
Authorities in those airports including Latvia, Germany, London and Hong Kong also declined to allow the police to place him into holding cells at each airport. That meant he could not be let out of their sight for one moment.
Rokas Karpavicius (right) arrives at Auckland International Airport after being extradited to New Zealand. Photo / Sarah Ivey.
The court heard that Operation Keyboard, led by Detective Sergeant John Sowter, began in Australia in January 2008 when Sydney police discovered that a shipment of granite sculptures sent from Lithuania concealed 28kg of amphetamine.
Further inquiries found a nearly identical shipment to Sydney in February 2007 and two to New Zealand that same year.
All the containers were sent by the same person, with the same contact phone number and the same bank account.
Money "mules" sent millions of dollars from Brown to Karpavicius, either using false names at foreign exchanges or carrying the cash in their suitcases.
One of the money launderers, Donatas Jukna, was later arrested at the German border on a "red notice" posted with Interpol and was extradited back to New Zealand.
Karpavicius was also the subject of a separate criminal investigation in Spain at the same time as Operation Keyboard.
The Spanish inquiry related to the seizure of €360,000 (NZ$541,100) from an Irish national, which was believed to be destined for Karpavicius.
He was charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, criminal association and document forgery.
• 1999: Arrested in New Zealand and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine. • 2001: Flees the country on a false passport. • 2010: Identified in a High Court trial for Operation Keyboard as the mastermind smuggling drugs into New Zealand. • 2011: Arrested in Latvia because of Interpol warrant. • 2012: Extradited back to New Zealand to face Operation Keyboard charges. • 2013: Faced a High Court trial where the jury returned different verdicts. - Guilty: Importing a Class A controlled drug and Money Laundering (2) - Not guilty: Importing a Class B controlled drug (2) and Conspiracy to Import Class A controlled drug (1) Hung jury: Importing a Class B controlled drug (2) • 2014: Faced a second High Court trial on the hung charges. Found guilty of importing a Class B controlled drug (2). Sentenced to 11 years 3 months in prison. • 2016: Granted parole and deported.
