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A police raid found a drug dealer in possession of $91,000 worth of methamphetamine and $14,500 in cash just three months after he had been released from prison.
A check of his bank accounts also found that Jayde William Charles Higgins, who had no income from legitimate sources, had received deposits and direct credits totalling $12,523 over the same period.
These included two deposits which police traced directly to methamphetamine sales they had identified by intercepting his phone and text messages.
Police searched Higgins’ Bay of Plenty home on October 26, 2022, three months after he had been released from jail for earlier offending.
“During the period following his release, Mr Higgins did not have any regular income from wages or state-funded benefits,” according to a decision from the High Court at Tauranga authorising the forfeiture of assets.
Jayde William Charles Higgins, as seen in a police photograph in 2015. Photo / NZ Police
In the search, police found 376 grams of methamphetamine in a zip-lock bag inside a snap-lock plastic container. The meth had a wholesale value of about $91,000.
In the same room, they found a dark blue waist bag containing $14,555 in cash.
Police had spent September 2022 intercepting Higgins’ phone calls and text messages, uncovering “evidence of drug-dealing activity”.
Higgins was subsequently convicted of supplying methamphetamine, possession of meth for supply, perverting the course of justice and driving while disqualified.
He was sentenced in July last year to five years and four months in prison.
Police applied to the High Court for a forfeiture order under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 in relation to the $14,555 in cash found in Higgins’ room.
The act is intended to strip the “tainted” assets people acquire through significant criminal activity.
“I am satisfied that the evidence establishes the quantum of cash found during the search on October 26, 2022 is tainted property as defined by the legislation,” Justice Peter Andrew said in his High Court decision.
“Those cash proceeds were acquired directly or indirectly from the sale of methamphetamine, namely significant criminal activity.”
Higgins’ case was just one of dozens brought to the courts every year under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.
Police have dedicated Asset Recovery Units (ARUs) set up specifically to pursue “tainted” assets and say their aim is to “disrupt, deter, and derail” crime by denying criminals the chance to enjoy their ill-gotten gains or reinvest them into further illegal enterprises.
Police say the ARUs’ work focuses on, but is not limited to, organised crime and methamphetamine offending.
Before court orders are made to forfeit assets, they are seized by police and restrained by the Official Assignee, a government official.
In the year 2022-23, there were 86 new cases involving $86.3 million restrained by the Official Assignee.
This was up on 56 cases netting $55m the previous year, but was well down on $227.4m restrained in 76 cases in an earlier bumper year, in 2019-20.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
