Police swoop on jade factories

Police and Ngai Tahu swooped on two Hokitika jade businesses this morning in a search for pounamu allegedly stolen from South Westland.

The Jade Factory and Mountain Jade were both shut while police searched inside. Staff were not letting anyone through the doors.

West Coast police area commander Inspector John Canning said they were looking for distinctive "snowflake" pounamu.

Twelve police officers from Greymouth and Hokitika were involved in executing the search warrants today, removing jade exhibits from the shelves of both shops.

"It's (snowflake) only found in one place, the Cascade Plateau. It never had a mining licence before or after Ngai Tahu had ownership vested in 1997," Mr Canning said.

"Ngai Tahu has not given permission to anyone to mine or remove that type of greenstone from the area."

Mr Canning said the operation could potentially have major ramifications for the jade industry.

Asked if the search warrant followed on from the Saxton theft case, Mr Canning said: "I don't want to go there."

Haast father and son helicopter pilots David and Morgan Saxton were convicted in 2008 of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of snowflake pounamu from the Cascade Plateau, south of Haast.

Makarora helicopter pilot Harvey Hutton was convicted separately.

Hutton served home detention and was ordered to surrender a cache of stolen pounamu to Ngai Tahu.

Dave Saxton was sentenced to two years and nine months in jail, and is currently serving home detention in Picton.

Morgan Saxton received a two years six-month sentence, but died in a helicopter crash in Lake Wanaka in November 2008, while on bail.

The Saxtons were also ordered to pay $300,000 reparation to Ngai Tahu.

The Jade Factory, opposite the town clock in Weld Street, is one of the bigger employers in Hokitika. Mountain Jade, in Tancred Street, is owned by the same company and opened in late 2008.

All ownership of pounamu was vested in Ngai Tahu by an Act of Parliament in 1997.

- NZPA