Police stumble on huge jail-based P ring

A multimillion-dollar drug ring allegedly run from inside New Zealand's most secure prison was discovered after police bugged the phone of a businessman suspected of murder.

Officers stumbled across the alleged large-scale methamphetamine ring when a homicide inquiry was launched to find missing man Grant Adams, a known associate of Brett Ashby - brother-in-law of notorious Paremoremo prisoner Arthur Taylor.

Police believed the trio were manufacturing P together.

Tauranga detectives bugged the cellphone of Ashby, a Tauranga company director, and allegedly later intercepted numerous phone calls between him and Taylor, while inside prison.

Ashby was charged with the murder of Adams, also known as Granite, in June 2007. Ashby has pleaded not guilty and has been released on bail. He is dying from liver cancer and is unlikely to stand trial.

But the intercepted phone calls between Taylor and Ashby prompted two further police inquiries.

The 18-month-long investigations led to charges that prisoners ran a methamphetamine importing and manufacturing ring inside Auckland maximum-security prison at Paremoremo.

In September, charges were laid against more than a dozen people, including senior King Cobra members Ulaisi "Rocky" Pulete and Michael Anthony Laumanu.

More than $5 million worth of the drug was seized, - a fraction of what is likely to have been imported.

All defendants have denied all charges and will appear in the North Shore and Waitakere District Courts for depositions hearings next month.

A number of gangs were also linked to the alleged enterprise, including Asian organised crime figures, the King Cobras, the Head Hunters and the Mongrel Mob. Sources told the Weekend Herald the operation was a perfect example of how members of rival gangs worked together as businessmen in an organised crime syndicate.

Police claim the prisoners discussed more than $1 million profit for members of the syndicate.

They allege the accused used cellphones to arrange the importation of methamphetamine precursors from China, and the prisoners contacted associates to turn them into P.

One prisoner allegedly obtained access to a computer, which he illicitly connected to the internet to organise the banking and investment of drug profits.

From inside Paremoremo Prison, Laumanu allegedly controlled the manufacture of methamphetamine, while Pulete is accused with directing the supply and distribution.