KEY POINTS:
A Fijian stowaway, heading for Auckland with 13,500 pseudoephedrine tablets, found himself stuck on board when the hold he was hiding in was not unloaded.
Neumi Lewenikurowai, 38, already banned from New Zealand after serving a prison sentence on serious drug matters, was yesterday jailed by a Christchurch District Court judge for six years.
He faces a minimum term of four years on two counts of importing a class C drug and possessing a precursor substance with intent to make methamphetamine.
Judge Phil Moran said that on October 29 Lewenikurowai was found stowed away on the Pacific Islands trading vessel Capitaine Wallis with enough pseudoephedrine to make P worth up to $577,000.
He got on board in Suva several days earlier by dressing as a wharf worker, with some food, water, a cellphone and telephone numbers to contact in New Zealand to deliver his illegal stash.
In Auckland, deck cargo was unloaded but the hold where Lewenikurowai had stowed away was not opened.
He was found on the way to Christchurch, and in his hiding place crew found a backpack with the tablets of pseudoephedrine and a foil of cannabis.
There were no mitigating factors, the judge said.
In 1993 in Fiji he was convicted of possessing dangerous drugs, in Auckland in 1996 he was jailed for aggravated robbery, and in 2006 he was jailed again in New Zealand for possessing a precursor substance, possessing LSD and possessing ecstasy with a street value of up to $80,000.
He also had a history of entering New Zealand illegally, the judge said.
Prosecutor Pip Currie said Lewenikurowai's probation report was "appalling".
He was at high risk of reoffending and showed no motivation to change, the report said.
Lewenikurowai was wanted in Fiji on serious matters and skipped bail to come to New Zealand, lawyer Leuatea Iosefa said.
- NZPA
