Police swoop on P properties

The Jupiter St property.

A P-making operation with the capacity to supply gangs with huge amounts of the killer drug has been uncovered in Auckland.

Four men are behind bars after police raided three properties in the south of the city on Friday.

Wayne Peter Van de Ven, 49, Robert Edward Lorigan, 52, his brother Victor Mervyn Basil Lorigan, 51, and Eugene Ian Rungarunga, 43, were all remanded in custody after appearing at the Manukau District Court yesterday.

Rungarunga, Van de Ven and Robert Lorigan have been charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and Victor Lorigan with supplying the drug.

Detective Sergeant Brett Shields, of the Counties Manukau organised crime unit, said further charges were likely, including selling and distribution.

A team of 12 detectives worked on the investigation. More than 20 other officers, including members of the Armed Offenders Squad, joined the raids on the homes of Van de Ven and the Lorigan brothers.

The swoop allegedly turned up methamphetamine in liquid and crystal forms, massive amounts of chemicals and equipment for making the drug, cash "into the thousands" and firearms.

Shields would not be drawn on specifics but said police were not seeking anyone else.

"There was different quantities at each address.

"We're not talking kilograms of methamphetamine, but we found equipment capable of making huge quantities of it," he said.

"A lot of stuff was seized and secured. It was a fairly intensive search at all three addresses, many items were buried outside and hidden very well. They made a big effort to hide their activities."

Shields said Van de Ven's property on Jupiter St, Papakura appeared to be the main base of the operation.

A Jupiter St resident, who asked not to be named, said he wasn't surprised to see the police turn up on Friday.

The house they raided had been a hive of activity in recent months.

"At night it was lit up like a prison camp ... flash cars came and went, 24 hours a day."

He said there were about 10 police cars and a fire engine on the street at one point on Friday.

"They were dressed in overalls and took a terrific amount of stuff out. They were going for quite a while."

Shields said the accused were not gang members but had associates from a variety of criminal organisations.

He said taking the armed officers to drug searches was reasonably standard. Officers spent most of yesterday searching the houses and seizing items but all properties were released to their owners last night.

Shields said all three houses would need to be commercially cleaned because of possible contamination from the chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

Manufacture of P is big business

* P is the nickname for pure methamphetamine
* A gram has a street value of about $1000
* An estimated $900m worth is produced in New Zealand annually.
* The illegal manufacture, distribution and marketing of P is big business, producing previously unheard of business alliances. Gangs who were once sworn enemies now prefer to work together because it's good for business.