Four Arrested as Police Seize NZ$20m Worth of Cocaine

Four foreign nationals were arrested yesterday at the climax of a five-month investigation carried out by police and Customs staff.

After several smaller busts, the investigation discovered that a cocaine shipment would be offloaded from a commercial ship near Tauranga this week.

Police said the ship arrived from Chile on Tuesday, and the cocaine was retrieved from a hidden compartment on the exterior of the hull.

Search warrants were then carried out in Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Auckland yesterday and four men were arrested.

The two Australian men, one Croatian man - aged in their mid-40s - and a Serbian man aged in the mid-30s, appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday, charged with importing the cocaine and possessing it for supply. Police said a further five kilograms of cocaine and a kilogram of methamphetamine was found in an Onehunga address along with a large amount of cash.

Police said there were links to an earlier incident in which another 30kg of cocaine was smuggled into New Zealand, and the four arrested men will face additional charges relating to this.

Customs spokesperson Jamie Bamford said New Zealand was being targeted by international crime syndicates as a market for cocaine.

“Our intelligence suggests an increase in demand and use, and this goes hand-in-hand with the increase in seizures we’re making at the border.”

“Customs focuses on the maritime border, and our regional ports.

Police Assistant Commissioner Investigations Richard Chambers said yesterday’s seizure was “hugely significant”.

“These arrests have dismantled a trans-national crime syndicate attempting to profit from a drug that would have caused a great deal of harm within our communities,” he said.