Police surveillance photo of Van Tran (left) meeting Da Wen Shao in a supermarket carpark to hand over a van. Photo / NZ Herald
Police surveillance photo of Van Tran (left) meeting Da Wen Shao in a supermarket carpark to hand over a van. Photo / NZ Herald
A casino VIP has received one of the longest ever prison sentences for smuggling the drugs needed to make methamphetamine.
Van Thanh Tran was a senior member of an organised crime syndicate smuggling large shipments of pseudoephedrine from China into Auckland which targeted in the Operation Ghost covert investigation.
He pleaded guilty to importing, possession for supply and supplying the Class-B drug pseudoephedrine, which is used to manufacture methamphetamine, including 250kg smuggled in a single shipment.
Crown prosecutor Scott McColgan said the "huge importation" of ContacNT, a cold and flu medication in China, was enough to cook up to 67kg of methamphetamine.
The maximum sentence for a single Class-B charge is 14 years. But Mr McColgan asked Justice Geoffrey Venning to start Tran's sentence at between 17 and 19 years - usually reserved for the largest P dealers - to reflect the totality of his widespread dealing.
Defence barrister Maria Pecotic said her client was a gambling addict whose desperation for money led him into the drug world, but was now genuinely remorseful.
"He knows his actions were wrong and hurt a lot of people and made them sick. He's deeply ashamed...in his words, 'I know I'm going to spend a long time in a cell'." She asked for the maximum discount of 25 per cent for his guilty pleas.
Justice Venning said pseudoephedrine was a key ingredient in methamphetamine, which he described as a "blight on our community", and Tran supplied millions of dollars' worth of the drug.
Tran was driven by greed for commercial gain, said Justice Venning. "You took a business risk that you might be caught. And you have been."
He ruled the starting point for Tran's sentence to be 18 years but gave him a 12 month discount for personal factors, including his remorse and gambling addiction, then a further 20 per cent discount for his guilty pleas.
The final sentence of 13 years and eight months is believed to be the longest sentence ever imposed for solely Class-B drugs. Tran will also serve at least six years and nine months before being eligible for parole.
Also known as Peter or "Elder Brother Ching", Tran had been on the unemployment benefit since immigrating to New Zealand in 1993 until 2012 despite making millions from his illegal empire.
A father of three, he has lived at a number of addresses in Auckland and Dunedin, where he ran a tiling company, but was living in Flat Bush, in South Auckland during the Operation Ghost investigation.
The police discovered Tran's identity by using an undercover officer to pose as a drug dealer and infiltrate a pseudoephedrine syndicate, then "working their way up the tree". Tran was sitting near the top.
He had 10 cellphones and the police kept listening and watching, learning more and more about Tran and his drug-dealing empire.
He sold pseudoephedrine in bulk to wholesalers with their own supply networks, but kept his "hands clean" by using lieutenants to keep his stockpiles safe and deliver packages on his instructions.
One of those stockpiles was one of the biggest ever discovered in New Zealand. Surveillance photographs obtained by the Herald show Tran giving a blue van to an associate, Da Wen Shao, a woman - whose name is suppressed - and a customs broker called Mosese Uele.
The van was driven into Uele's customs-bonded premises at Auckland International Airport and left overnight.
Police covertly broke into the warehouse in the middle of the night to discover the van held boxes full of cornstarch.
However, a few days later, police followed the van to two residential homes in Auckland, which turned out to be safe houses for Tran.
Around 205kg of pseudoephedrine was found at one address, 46.5kg at another.
The smuggled pseudoephedrine from China had been switched out with the "dummy consignment" of cornstarch destined for Tonga, inside Uele's freight-forwarding premises at the airport.
Sold by the "set" of 223g for $10,000, the cache would be worth more than $11 million.
Police surveillance photo of Van Tran (left) meeting Da Wen Shao in a supermarket carpark to hand over a van. Photo / NZ Herald
Tran outside a van which was then driven to a Customs-bonded warehouse at the Auckland International Airport. Photo / NZ Herald
Police break into the warehouse to check the contents of the van. Photo / NZ Herald
The boxes inside the van contained legitimate cornstarch bound for Tonga. Photo / NZ Herald
A few days later, the police followed the van when it left the warehouse. Photo / NZ Herald
The van stopped at two Auckland homes. Police raided the addresses and found 250kg of pseudoephedrine. Photo / NZ Herald
The cornstarch had been switched with pseudoephedrine inside the warehouse. Photo / NZ Herald
The Herald has previously revealed the 49-year-old Tran was one of six VIPs at SkyCity under surveillance in Operation Ghost.
Evidence given during the trial described him as a "big gambler", once losing $800,000 in a week, and a loan shark who would lend amounts as large as $300,000.
SkyCity records show he spent $15 million in a 15-month period and his volume of play - the churn of money won and lost - was $67 million.
Overall Tran lost more than $1.1 million in that short time.
The high-roller also held an account with SkyCity in which he deposited $2.5 million of gaming chips, cheques and cash in 11 months and withdrew $460,000 during the same time.
Police say this level of gambling is consistent with someone who can access substantial sums of cash despite declaring a much smaller legitimate income, according to an affidavit in a parallel civil court case to seize Tran's assets.
"Many of those involved in drug dealing activity attend casinos for the purpose of 'laundering' funds that have been generated through their unlawful activity."
The police have seized two homes from Tran, several cars including an Audi, $85,000 cash, bank accounts holding more than $200,000 as well as jewellery. Most of these assets were held in the names of family members.
