Police raids after drug-related death

A man’s death in the Hutt Valley has been linked by police to synthetic drugs, as they raided a ‘‘major source’’ in Cannons Creek, Porirua.

The 36-year-old man died on Thursday night, and his death has been referred to the coroner.

Police issued a statement yesterday on the man’s death, about an hour after a noon raid for synthetic drugs at a house in Cannons Creek.

Hutt Valley area commander Inspector Sean Hansen said police were focused on holding to account those who were manufacturing or supplying the drugs.

Police seized a ‘‘significant amount’’ of synthetic drugs from addresses in the Hutt Valley and the wider Wellington region. A number of arrests have been made.

Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Ferguson said the Cannons Creek house was ‘‘a major source’’ of synthetic drugs in the Wellington region.

The house was searched, and a woman and a 39-year-old-man were arrested on drugs charges.

This property was raided six weeks ago, and the occupants were known to have firearms, police said.

The raid came after at least 17 people in the past four days had been attended to by police or ambulance staff because of synthetics, Ferguson said. That number did not include the five people in intensive care, reported by Stuff on Thursday.

‘‘Unfortunately, over the past week across the Wellington district, we’ve seen a sudden spike of people suffering from the ill-effects of synthetics.’’

Most of those people were from Porirua. ‘‘They’re lying in the street or comatose, which is what this drug does.’’

Fly spray, rat poison and acetone were among the chemicals being sprayed on leaves that were then dried and smoked, he said. ‘‘This is not just an issue for police, but it has a huge ripple effect on emergency services who are called away from other services. It’s a whole raft of harm that’s being passed on to the health sector.’’

t are seeing this going on and we need them to say that this is unacceptable.’’