The methamphetamine was concealed in falsely marked boxes, duffel bags and, finally, Prince Durian food packets. Photo / Customs
The methamphetamine was concealed in falsely marked boxes, duffel bags and, finally, Prince Durian food packets. Photo / Customs
Forty-seven kilograms of methamphetamine with a street value of $16.45 million has been seized at the border, Customs says.
The drugs were discovered at Auckland Airport in four unaccompanied boxes sent from the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur, said Customs’ manager Auckland Airport Paul Williams.
Upon their arrival in the middle of this month, the yellow boxes were detained by Customs for further inspection after routine enforcement activity, Williams said.
They’d been declared “paper ream” and marked as “IK Yellow”, but Customs officers instead found black duffel bags hidden inside.
The bags held 46 packages of Prince Durian food packets, which in turn concealed about 47kg of methamphetamine, he said.
“This amount of methamphetamine would have been worth up to $16.45 million in street value, and the Customs seizure has prevented up to $52.1m in social harm and cost to New Zealand.”
The methamphetamine was concealed in boxes falsely labelled as "paper reams" and sent as air freight to Auckland Airport from Malaysia. Photo / Customs
No arrests had been made as a result of the seizure but investigations were ongoing.
“This seizure has the hallmarks of what is referred to as a ‘rip-on and rip off’ scenario, a common trend at border checkpoints internationally, which we’re increasingly seeing here in New Zealand.
“Customs works closely with partner agencies and industry colleagues such as airport and air freight companies to educate our stakeholders on what to look out for.”
Duffel bags were also used to conceal the drugs, which have a street value of more than $16 million. Photo / Customs
Customs had a simple message to those being exploited by transnational organised crime groups, Williams said.
“These money-greedy criminals don’t care about you or your families – they’ll treat you like scum and you’ll end up bearing the brunt of the law.”
Cole’s downfall started with a tip from the Australian Border Force in August 2021, the Herald reported last week.
A massive shipment – 556kg of high-quality methamphetamine – had recently been discovered hidden inside a rotary separator air freighted from the Philippines. Had New Zealand authorities seen anything similar?
A quick review by Customs discovered that an almost identical shipment from the same exporter had been cleared to enter New Zealand two months earlier.
It was too late to confiscate the estimated 450kg of drugs that were successfully smuggled into New Zealand – a haul that would have been worth tens of millions of dollars. But authorities were able to gather enough circumstantial evidence to arrest Cole a year later, after a lengthy investigation dubbed Operation Samson.
* Anyone with concerns about possible smuggling can contact Customs confidentially on 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
