Putting the p in post

Morphine Sulphate, with a street value in the thousands of dollars, that was mistakenly couriered to the home of a Wellington man. Photo / NZH

Drug dealers trying to send morphine through the mail have seen their brazen smuggling attempt go wrong - thanks to bad handwriting.

A Wellington man came home on Thursday night to find a courier package on his doorstep containing around 100 Class B controlled morphine pills with an estimated street value of $1000.

The man, who asked not to be named, double-checked the label to find the shipment was intended for someone with a similar name and street address 200km away in Whanganui.

"The suburb was badly scribbled on the package," the man said. "I figured it was for me so I opened it and there were two pill jars in there - one that had 'morphine sulphate' on the label."

Concerned about who might be involved with the shipment, the man called police and NZ Post to sort it out. However, the man couldn't get a response and had to keep the drugs overnight.

"Police said they were understaffed and couldn't get anyone out that night. They asked if I could bring it into the station, but it made me nervous to think I'd be walking around with something so illegal," he said.

"The next day I called police again and insisted they come to pick it up."

Wellington police's crime squad confirmed the illegal shipment had been exposed in the blunder and said they were investigating the source and recipient.

NZ Post is also investigating.