KEY POINTS:
Eight more people have appeared in court today on a raft of charges related to an elaborate drug ring run from behind bars.
The brief appearance at the North Shore District Court this morning saw an increased police presence and some of the accused were handcuffed to security staff. They will reappear on October 21.
Police have said they seized enough chemicals in the alleged ring to make more than $5 million of methamphetamine, also known as P.
Eight prisoners were charged after raids on 23 properties, and at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo and the Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato on September 3.
Another four people - including two women - outside of prisons were arrested. They appeared in the North Shore District Court yesterday and were remanded.
Police allege the eight inmates conspired to import the Class A controlled chemical Contact NT from China, with help from the group on the outside.
Officers have not said how the group came to their attention but Customs New Zealand have intercepted 20kg of the Contact NT - enough to make 5kg of P.
Detective Inspector Steve Wood said more than 80 charges were being laid by the Crown against the group, the most serious being manufacturing and supplying the class A drug methamphetamine. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment. They are also charged with the importation and supply of precursor chemicals.
