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Southland drug operation busted after suspicions of Customs officers at Auckland International Mail Centre raised by package declared as dining plates.
After discovering MDMA in the package, subsequent search warrants at two Invercargill properties led to what police say was a large drug operation, including a large amount of cannabis, several firearms and $60,400 in cash.
Two men in their 30s have been charged, making their first appearances in the Invercargill District Court this month.
A significant and sophisticated Southland drug operation has been brought down by “dodgy-looking crockery”, police say.
The bust began with 2kg of MDMA discovered by Auckland Customs officers this month in a package declared to be dining plates and continued when subsequent search warrants at two Invercargill properties turned up more MDMA, cocaine, suspected ketamine, cannabis head and leaf, cannabis plants, firearms, ammunition and more than $60,000 in cash.
Two men in their 30s have been charged, Detective Inspector Shona Low said.
“This is offending on a scale rarely seen in Southland. Serious harm has been prevented, thanks to Customs and police working closely together and acting fast.”
A large amount of cannabis leaf, head and plants were found as a result of the search warrants, police say. Photo / NZ Police
The suspicions of Customs officers were first raised on January 6 when they X-rayed a package at the Auckland International Mail Centre, said Low, the Southern District crime manager.
“It was declared to contain dining plates, but an X-ray raised suspicions and testing revealed more than 2kg of MDMA had been pressed into plate shape and coated with paint.”
The package was addressed to an Invercargill property, with the Southern District Organised Crime Group gathering information and preparing a search warrant.
This is 2kg of MDMA, not dining plates, police say. Photo / NZ Police
On Thursday last week the Invercargill property was searched, with police officers finding ketamine, cash, ammunition and cannabis, Low said.
“But the most significant discovery was evidence that showed a connection to another Southland address.
“Given the quantities of MDMA intercepted at the border and clear signs of a wider drug operation, police quickly obtained a search warrant for the second property and prepared to search it that same day.”
A drying rack of cannabis discovered during the police searches. Photo / NZ Police
At that address, police were met with an overwhelmng smell of cannabis, and found a sophisticated growing set-up, numerous plants, and more than 25kg of high-grade cannabis head, which was packaged and ready to be sold, she said.
“A sizeable amount of a substance, believed to be ketamine, was also located, along with another half-kilogram of MDMA, and more than $60,000 cash.”
Overall, 18kg of high-grade cannabis head, 12kg of leaf, 22 cannabis plants, 431g of MDMA, 0.46g of cocaine, 210g of suspected ketamine, six rounds of .303 ammunition and a magazine, eight rounds of .300 ammunition, 250 rounds of .22 ammunition and $60,400 in cash was found in the searches.
“This wasn’t someone growing a cannabis plant for their own use. It was an organised, sophisticated drug operation designed to make a profit, without any concern for the people affected or damaged by it.
“The drug trade feeds people’s addictions and fuels crime by encouraging desperate individuals to steal in order to pay for their next hit.”
More than $60,000 in cash was also found when police searched two Invercargill properties as part of the drug bust. Photo / NZ Police
A 38-year-old Invercargill man appeared in the Invercargill District Court last Friday charged with supplying ecstasy, supplying ketamine, cultivating cannabis, possession of cannabis for supply and possession of ecstasy for supply.
He has been remanded in custody.
A 34-year-old man, also of Invercargill, appeared in the Invercargill District Court on Tuesday charged with possession of ketamine and unlawfully possessing ammunition, Low said.
