Police followed suspected 'P' doctor

A "controlled delivery" of precursor substances, the police tailing of a suspect vehicle, and a midnight raid on a Newmarket apartment building ended in the arrest of an Auckland heart surgeon on charges of supplying drugs used to make methamphetamine.

Xiao-Zhong Chen, 54, faces seven charges of supplying a precursor substance - pseudoephedrine - following the August 2004 police sting. The Crown contends that Chen supplied 22,000 packets of Telfast decongestant tablets, knowing they were to be used to manufacture methamphetamine, the drug group that includes P.

Chen says the tablets were to be exported to medical companies in China.

In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Detective Sergeant John Sowter outlined the operation that led to Chen's arrest. Mr Sowter, an Auckland Drug Squad officer, became involved with the Chen case after realising it could be linked to the discovery of pseudoephedrine tablets at the flat of another man, Weikun Jin, in June 2004.

On August 25 of that year, police organised the "controlled" shipment of Telfast tablets - 2000 packets - to suppliers Anspec, for pick-up by Chen. Police followed Chen on August 30 as he left the West Auckland business after picking up the tablets.

Chen eventually stopped outside Auckland Hospital, where he met another man - later identified as Yang Hao - before going in to the hospital. Yang left in the vehicle Chen had used, the tablets still inside.

Police watched as Yang stopped in Park Avenue, Grafton, and picked up Jin. The two men then drove to a Hillsborough address, which police later raided.

Inside the six-bedroom house, police found a cache of Telfast tablets, Mr Sowter told the court.

Yang and Jin - who were on bail at the time - were arrested, along with another man, Nan Qi.

Yang and Jin have since fled the country. Qi was charged with allowing his premises to be used in the commission of crimes against the misuse of drugs act. He has "already been dealt with" by the courts, the jury was told.

Police raided Chen's Newmarket apartment shortly after midnight and found cash totalling $25,500 in a suit jacket.

Mr Sowter told the court that export records, purportedly showing transactions with Chinese medical companies, were fake.

The trial, presided over by Judge Fred McElrea, is expected to finish late next week.