Ninety Mile Beach drug bust subject of TV series starring some of country’s best actors

It was the country’s largest-ever drug bust and it put the Far North in the country’s spotlight when almost half a tonne of methamphetamine was landed on Ninety Mile Beach in 2016.

Now the dramatic case has been turned into a made-for-TV series featuring some of New Zealand’s best-known actors.

The show - named simply Far North - is produced by South Pacific Pictures for Warner Bros Discovery and premiers on August 14. It will then air Mondays at 8.30pm on Three or it can be streamed first on ThreeNow.

It’s based on the landing of almost 500kg of meth, worth an estimated $500 million, on Ninety Mile beach in June, 2016.

Starring New Zealand acting icons Robyn Malcolm (Outrageous Fortune, Black Bird) and Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors, Aquaman) along with a talented and diverse ensemble cast, Far North is a six-part drama series telling the (mostly) true story of how the most comically inept gang to ever join forces got half a billion dollars worth of methamphetamine to New Zealand shores – and nearly to market - before being caught thanks to the sharp eyes of Far North locals.

Robyn Malcolm and Temuera Morrison as Ahipara couple Heather and Ed, in the upcoming TV series Far North, which focuses on the inept efforts to import half a tonne of methamphetamine through Ninety Mile beach in 2016.

They would have got away with it too, if it wasn’t for a pesky 70-year-old diesel mechanic Ed - played by Morrison - and his aqua-aerobics instructing wife Heather - played by Malcolm. The real-life couple they are based on helped foil the operation.

The man known as Ed in the series, was enlisted to help the group launch their boat so they could get the drugs from the “mothership” at sea and bring them back to shore. The group had deceived the local, saying they wanted to spread a relative’s ashes.

An unsuccessful attempt to launch the boat unfolded like a comedy of errors and the group scrambled to get another, paying cash for a $98,000 rigid-hull inflatable boat. Featuring enough food in the boat to “feed a marae” for a week, the fact that the group were wearing gloves, and one had $500 in his hand, led the local to believe this was more than just a trip to spread ashes.

Northland Police made this then record seizure of methamphetamine after it was landed on Ninety Mile Beach in 2016. Details of the bust are now subject of a six-part TV series Far North, that stars some of the country’s top actors.

He called the police. But it wasn’t until the group beached the boat, on retrieving the drugs, that the attention of the police was fully caught.

A few hours later, police were interviewing the local man about the group, and the group drove past.

“My wife said ‘there they go, they’re driving past’,” the local said.

The police went on to find 52kg of meth buried in sand dunes and 449kg in a campervan.

The campervan police found more than 400kg of methamphetamine in after it was landed on Ninety Mile Beach in June, 2016.

It also stars Demetrius Schuster-Koloamatangi (The Panthers, Red, White and Brass), JP Foliaki (Red, White and Brass), Xiao Hu (Homebound 3.0) and Xana Tang (Mulan, Dead Lucky, Bad Behaviour).

Eight people were sent to prison for decades for their roles in the importation of the drugs.