While listening to the bugged telephone conversations, police heard Lim book a table at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Auckland. Video Producer: Chris Tarpey
EXCLUSIVE: Yixin Gan was jailed for 14 years as the mastermind of a 250kg drug shipment. Now all her ill-gotten gains are gone.
More than $3 million of assets have been forfeited by the "puppet master" of a smuggled 250kg drug shipment - and her "inside man" who helped exploit the loophole in New Zealand's border security.
Yixin Gan, an Auckland mother of three also known as Lonna, was jailed for14 years in October after being convicted of two counts of importing a Class-B drug, as well as possession for supply.
A High Court judge described her as the "primary architect" of the clever method used to import 250kg of ContacNT, a medicine which contains pseudoephedrine - one of the main ingredients needed to cook methamphetamine.
The jury also heard evidence about how the VIP gambler at Auckland's SkyCity casino had about $7 million of unexplained cash deposits into multiple bank accounts.
Now, Gan has forfeited $2.35 million worth of assets to the police including:
• Several properties in Auckland. • A late model Audi. • Money from 20 bank accounts. • Gucci and Louis Vuitton handbags. • Jewellery collection including Rolex watches. • Expensive liquors and wine collection, including two dozen bottles of Penfolds.
Yixin Gan driving with co-accused Da Wen Shao. The Audi has been forfeited to police. Photo/Supplied.
Yixin Gan was the "primary architect" of a sophisticated drug smuggling network. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
Gan's inside man, Mosese Uele, will also lose his Auckland home which is conservatively valued at $820,000.
At Gan's trial, Crown prosecutor Scott McColgan told the jury she had "cottoned on to an almost perfect" method of smuggling the drugs into the country.
She ran a legitimate business shipping food from China to the Pacific Islands, with a short stop in New Zealand.
But because the shipments were shown as goods in transit, and therefore not technically coming through the border, the consignments were not inspected by Customs.
Instead, the shipments - disguised as potato starch - were sent to the secure Customs-controlled area at Auckland airport until they were freighted to the final destination.
"But what if you had an inside man in the Customs-controlled area?" was the question McColgan posed to the jury.
The 'inside man' Mosese Uele was sentenced to 5 years and 5 months in prison. Photo / Supplied.
The inside man was Mosese Uele, who ran a freight-forwarding company called Ezi World Cargo.
Inside the Ezi World Cargo premises, Uele switched the ContacNT with real potato starch to be sent to Tonga.
The boxes of drugs were put in a van and driven to a car park in Auckland, all while being followed by police.
He was a Crown witness in Gan's trial and told the jury he did not know what was inside the boxes of "starch". He said he was paid $60,000 in a large brown envelope.
"Did you ask why she paid $60,000 to swap 20 boxes of starch?" asked McColgan.
"It wasn't my business. My role was to swap boxes and get money. That was my only concern," Uele replied.
Uele pleaded guilty to just one charge of importing pseudoephedrine and was sentenced to five years and five months in prison. He has since been released.
However, in the forfeiture judgment of Justice Paul Davison, the police said there were 12 shipments organised by Gan which passed through Uele's freight company between 2009 and 2013.
Bank records showed there was a "significant spike" in cash deposits into Uele's account around the time of each importation.
In particular, Uele was able to purchase his home in West Harbour after he banked $250,000 in cash deposits.
Justice Davison approved a forfeiture deal where the house, with a capital value of $820,000, is sold and $150,000 returned to the Uele family.
The estimated balance, once the mortgage is repaid, of $300,000 will be forfeited to the Crown - although this could be greater given the heated Auckland property market.
A further $40,000 cash and a car belonging to Uele were also seized.
