Police warn the ones that got away in celebrity drug case

The final arrest has been made in Auckland's celebrity drug case.

But police warn those who got away not to relax.

James Leo Angus, 39, from Auckland, will appear in the Auckland District Court for a pre-depositions hearing on October 19. He is charged with possessing and supplying Ecstasy.

Like many others, Angus was discovered in a sting on John Francis Waterworth's Auckland apartment last year.

Detective Sergeant John Sowter from the Auckland Drug Squad said Angus was the last person to be tracked down in relation to the case.

The sting brought in a haul of well-known names, including former All Black Marc Ellis and former rugby league player Brent Todd, who now have minor drug convictions.

The reputations of former All Black Josh Kronfeld and television personality Lana Coc-Kroft were muddied.

A number of other people involved were never identified or charged.

But Detective Sergeant Sowter says police are always running drug operations, "so you never know - you always have to look over your shoulder if you're involved in drugs".

After guilty pleas on Wednesday from Waterworth and Ecstasy importer Adamu Shazizi Awahdi, from Burundi, and Thursday's conviction of Tanzanian Jumaa Omar Mbawala for importing cocaine, only three people remain before the courts. Angus is one. Two others cannot be named because of suppression orders.

Mbawala's arrest last year kicked off the investigation into Waterworth.

Mbawala, who stowed away on a boat to New Zealand and was later refused refugee status, stayed here illegally and used contacts in Tanzania to arrange for cocaine to be hidden in picture frames and delivered to motels around Auckland.

Using aliases, he booked into the motels to collect the packages. Awahdi did gain refugee status. Police don't know how he imported the Ecstasy.

The men are symbolic of a growing problem of refugees and other immigrants importing drugs.

"A lot of the imports are done by these guys because they've got the connections overseas and they'll on-sell to the gangs and they'll on-sell to other drug dealers," said Detective Sergeant Sowter.

He said Waterworth was being supplied by Mbawala and, after he was locked up, Awahdi provided the Ecstasy.