Speed shopper jailed for 9 months

Police have been rounding up the "minnows" who buy pharmacy drugs that are then turned into high-priced methamphetamine.

At least two major operations have targeted the so-called "pill-shoppers" who tour chemists' shops buying branded drugs containing pseudoephedrine.

Operation Desk resulted in 45 arrests.

The longest jail sentence so far has been two years and three months.

In the High Court at Auckland yesterday another pill shopper, 23-year-old Peter Andrew Carlyon, of no fixed address, was jailed for nine months after admitting buying precursor substances for the manufacture of methamphetamine, or "speed".

Justice Peter Salmon allowed him to apply for home detention.

Defence counsel Carolyn Rameil said Carlyon was a minnow caught up in a huge police operation.

Prosecutor Tiana Epati said Carlyon had bought pseudoephedrine products 29 times over three months.

The potential profit was enormous, she said.

Justice Salmon told Carlyon that methamphetamine was "without doubt the most dangerous freely available drug in New Zealand".

"In its pure form it has been responsible for some dreadful offending in this country."



Those who manufactured and sold methamphetamine relied on people such as Carlyon to supply the precursor substances, he said.

According to the police summary of facts, the pills Carlyon bought could have produced $9000 worth of methamphetamine.



Pseudoephedrine, a fundamental ingredient of methamphetamine, is found in some cold and flu remedies.

Packs of 30 pills cost $11 to $14 but can fetch $90 to $110 on the black market.

Police say there are pill-shopping syndicates who can buy enough of the raw material to produce up to $200,000 of methamphetamine a week.

Detective Sergeant John Sowter said after yesterday's sentencing that police had decided to target people at the bottom of the process after receiving information for about a year from pharmacies about dubious sales of pills.

"They are the foot-soldiers starting the process off."

Mr Sowter said he was pleased to see these people were being "hammered" by the courts.

He said 95 per cent of methamphetamine was manufactured from pills that either had to be bought, taken in burglaries or imported.