Herald investigation: Border Patrol has created an unrealistic expectation about the job of Customs officers, says the chief executive of the border protection agency.

People might not always connect Internal Affairs anti-fraud specialists with a sense of humour.

Fruit fly-infested chillies, dried frogs and a tiger tooth are among the weird goods travellers have been trying to get past New Zealand border staff in the last month.

Around $50 million worth of illegal drugs have been destroyed in a Customs drug disposal operation yesterday.

Four Asian tourists are facing life in prison after being caught allegedly trying to smuggle over 12kg of methamphetamine into the country.

Customs has stopped a $360,000 supply of a "date rape" drug from hitting our streets, in one of the biggest busts of its kind in New Zealand.

A plane with more than 260 passengers on board made two attempted landings at Auckland Airport before being forced to divert to a military airbase and wait.

Police have shut down two sophisticated drug rings and seized meth worth up to $123 million during a series of busts across Auckland.

Customs is intercepting more mail containing cocaine, LSD and Ecstasy as people use online drug marketplaces to order recreational drugs.

A Canadian teenager has been jailed for nine years for importing almost $2 million worth of methamphetamine in supplement containers.

A woman who imported nearly $1 million of methamphetamine in the post made the police's job significantly easier by having it delivered to her home.

Is it really necessary to look at the contents of personal computers at the country's borders? Clearly Customs is already doing so.

More weapons are being intercepted at New Zealand's borders but the law limits investigations into those behind importations, Customs says.

A $2.5 million meth ring run by ex-pat Nigerians was smashed after police turned their drug mule against them, a court has heard.

A false declaration on a container arriving from China has landed an Auckland woman a $3000 fine.

Yet another guest visiting the businessman Kim Dotcom was detained by the Customs Service for hours. Welcome to New Zealand - unless you're here to see Kim Dotcom.

A mother who spotted a blood-thirsty tick embedded in her daughter's shoulder at Auckland airport did the right thing by alerting biosecurity officials.

A $22 million drug haul intercepted at Auckland Airport is the second biggest border seizure in New Zealand's history.

An expensive designer handbag, a preserved scorpion, human ashes and an unwrapped tennis ball are some of the 100,000 "undeliverable" mail items sent via New Zealand Post that have been destroyed or sold in the past year.

It happened just out of Cairo and it really wasn't my idea. I was visiting some pyramids - about the only tourist in town - when the lonely soldier standing guard decided to walk with me.

A man accused of manslaughter after his mother-in-law died transporting drugs in her stomach has been cleared by a jury.

Customs developed a special process for releasing public information to the media which included an increase in delays, according to documents provided to the Herald.

Aviation Security staff are on heightened alert following the raised terror threat level and on the lookout for a range of new risks.