Police think Asian drugs bust couple still in NZ

Police are desperate for some new sightings of a Chinese couple wanted on drugs charges who skipped bail, but they think the couple are still in New Zealand.

Xie Jianzhong, 36, and Huang Hong Quin, 34, have not been seen since being spotted in Bay of Plenty twice on Wednesday.

Xie and Huang face charges of importing drugs to manufacture up to $15 million of the drug P.

Police are worried the pair might try to flee to China, either by using false passports or by boat.

"We are desperately seeking new sightings so anything that anybody has seen of them since Wednesday we would be very keen to know," Detective Sheree Gray of the Auckland Police drug squad told NZPA today.

She said it was possible they had left the country but at this stage unlikely.

"We have got numerous contacts within their community and if they had left the country we think we would find out reasonably quickly through them," she said.

"At this stage the indication is that they have not left New Zealand yet."

She said the couple may be trying to get false passport and travel documents. All ports in New Zealand had been alerted.

The couple might try to get to Australia or the islands, where the pressure on them was not so intense, she said.

Xie and Huang were arrested in December after police discovered pseudoephedrine, which is used to make P, and blank credit cards under their house.

Bail was not initially opposed when the pair appeared in court on December 21 as neither had a criminal record in New Zealand, their passports had been seized and strict bail conditions had been sought.

Xie met his bail conditions until mid-January, when he fled after he was allegedly caught importing further pseudoephedrine products into New Zealand.

Huang, 34, met all her bail conditions until she appeared in court on February 15, where police wanted her taken into custody as they were worried she would try to follow her husband.

A hearing to discuss their opposition to bail was set down for the following day but Huang failed to appear. Police found her house empty.

The couple's two children flew back to China within the past two weeks.

- NZPA