Cop sting nets P dealing accused

A man caught in a methamphetamine sting says he has no idea how more than half a kilogram of the drug was found in the dashboard of the car he was driving before his arrest.

Two of the big players in the drug’s Dannevirke supply network were snapped in the same police operation.

The trial of Stephen Reiri got underway in the Palmerston North District Court on Tuesday, a day after he had pleaded not guilty to helping someone possess methamphetamine for supply.

Reiri was arrested in July 2015 as part of Operation Frost, which concentrated on drug dealing in Tararua.

Crown prosecutor Michael Blaschke said Reiri travelled to Auckland from Dannevirke with an associate on July 24, 2015.

They changed cars along the way.

The associate was the focus of Operation Frost, with police getting warrants to monitor his text messages and phone calls.

The pair arrived in Auckland and met another associate, picked up a quantity of methamphetamine and began travelling back, with Reiri driving.

But they were intercepted by armed offenders squad members just outside Napier at 3.30am on July 25, 2015.

The car was searched by police. They found a plastic package behind a glovebox. he package contained 542 grams of methamphetamine, found to be 79 per cent pure, Blaschke said.

‘‘There will be no dispute that that is a considerable quanitity.’’

There was no argument about the methamphetamine being in the car, or that Reiri’s associate had it, so the trial would focus on Reiri’s role, Blaschke said.

‘‘The Crown must prove Reiri knew, or was wilfully blind to, the circumstances of the offending.’’

Blaschke read a message the associate sent Reiri while they were waiting in Auckland: ‘‘Still waiting dog. I’ll be sweet when it is in my hand.’’

‘‘That, the Crown will say, is a reference to the methamphetamine they obtained,’’ Blaschke said.

Defence lawyer Peter Coles said the Crown had to show Reiri knew the drugs were methamphetamine and that they were going to be used to supply other people.

‘‘What did Mr Reiri know when they set out? When did that change, and in what circumstances?’’

Detective Mathew Akuhata, who searched the car, said he found the drugs after pulling out the lower glovebox in front of the front passenger’s seat.

He felt a plastic bag when reaching up into the cavity he had created, so decided to take the top glovebox out to get better access.

The top glovebox came out easily.

Detective Shaun Kennard interviewed Reiri after he was arrested.

Reiri said he went to Auckland to pick up a car for someone, but had not been told what car to get by the time he arrived there.

The trial continues.