Around 17 kilograms of methamphetamine, with a street value of $17 million, has been seized by police.
Operation Cossack – a joint investigation by Counties Manukau Police and Customs - was a seven-month operation into the alleged importing of methamphetamine by a member of the Thailand Chapter of the Bandidos Motor Cycle Gang. Along with the drugs, about $150,000 of recently purchased jewellery and $200,000 cash were also recovered.
Some of the methamphetamine seized in the bust. Photo: NZ Police.
Three people have now been arrested and charged with importing methamphetamine, supplying methamphetamine and money laundering.
Detective Senior Sergeant Albie Alexander says the drugs recovered were destined for the New Zealand market.
'The seizure of such a substantial amount sends a clear picture that police will continue to work with our partner agencies to disrupt the supply chain and reduce the harm caused by this drug.
'Methamphetamine is a significant driver of crime in New Zealand. It ruins lives, destroys families and does enormous damage to our communities.”
Customs Investigations manager, Maurice O'Brien, says the co-operation between the Counties Manukau OCU and Customs has provided an efficient and layered enforcement service for communities against this insidious drug, and 'this is a great result”.
Venkant Raman, who is a member of the Counties Manukau South Asian Advisory Board says it's heartening that police in association with Customs were able to successfully complete Operation Cossack.
'Their vigilance, planning, and meticulous investigation has led to the arrest of those allegedly involved in illegal trading of drugs, money laundering and other social evils. The impact of drugs on our communities can be devastating, and we as a community need to all stand up and say that we will not accept it.”
Three men aged 54, 31 and 28 have appeared in the Manukau District Court and will next appear in October.
Police cannot rule out the possibility of further charges as our investigation continues.
7 comments
RJD
Posted on 05-10-2016 13:16 | By Homer
Well done & thanks to the enforcement agencies. Thats a bit of the poison off the streets and a couple of lousy drug dealers under starters orders. Throw the book at them!
Excellent!
Posted on 05-10-2016 16:41 | By bryceh
Scumbags will be on the rampage losing all that dosh! These guys are a joke!
Good job
Posted on 05-10-2016 18:01 | By spencerb
Now all we need is the law to suitably deal with these scum. Bali has the right idea and bullets are cheap.
Ban the lot
Posted on 05-10-2016 19:15 | By The umpire
Ban all gangs and lock up the rest in Bali then see if they want to go bad, we should sub our prison population out to Bali at the going rate for a single pensioner, I'd vote for that.
Get serious about this
Posted on 05-10-2016 19:31 | By myview
Let's get the President of the Philippines over here to deal with both dealers & users, he has executed hundreds of thousands of them in his country in just a few months & and has his sights set on millions. Go man go!!
Curiosity!!
Posted on 05-10-2016 23:14 | By MirellaV
What they do with the cash recovered???
I wonder if our
Posted on 06-10-2016 07:48 | By earlybird
government provides any aid to Thailand, if so perhaps that should be looked at and the same process for all the other countries that are the source of drugs coming in to NZ. Also our government need to have another look at the laws governing the importation of class A drugs with a view to drastically increasing the minimum time served before parole. We all know that drug addiction and the associated need for more and more cash fuels the whole spectrum of crime in this country. Probably sounds silly but if you legalised drugs you could control the quality, strength, purity etc and bring the whole sorry mess out from the shadows.
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