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Waikato police, pursuing a man who appeared reluctant to stop, found about $100,000 worth of methamphetamine in his car.
The arrest was one of five made in rural Waikato over drug charges in the last 24 hours.
The arrests have prompted a warning from Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls, of Waikato CIB, who says drugs are not just a problem in big cities.
Mr Nicholls said a Holden Commodore was stopped on a rural road outside Mercer about 9pm yesterday.
"Police had been searching for it after it had sped off from a routine stop near Gordonton earlier in the evening," said Mr Nicholls.
Officers' suspicions of the driver increased when he refused to get out of his car and had to be forcibly removed.
Mr Nicholls said the reason for his uncooperative behaviour became clear when a methamphetamine pipe was found on the floor of the car.
A search was carried out and a container with about 100gms of pure methamphetamine, with a street value of about $100,000, was found inside, he said.
A large sum of cash was also found and the 37-year-old Auckland man was arrested.
He appeared in Hamilton District Court today on drugs charges and further charges were pending, said Mr Nicholls.
This morning, members of the Waikato armed offenders squad supported detectives executing three search warrants in West Huntly.
Four people were arrested, with two facing charges of possession and cultivating of cannabis, producing cannabis oil and possession of utensils.
A stolen vehicle and laptop computer were also recovered.
Two people appeared in Hamilton District Court today on charges relating to these events while the other pair are expected to appear next week.
- NZPA
