Four arrested, $1.6m in psychoactive substances seized

WEST Auckland police have arrested three people for allegedly supplying synthetic drugs used by people who have died as a result of the substances.

The three men arrested are aged 22, 30 and 33. They have all been charged with selling/supplying a psychoactive substance.

Police have carried out search warrants at two addresses and recovered a small amount of what is suspected to be psychoactive substances.

These have been sent to ESR for testing.

‘‘Where police believe the supply of the synthetic drug is linked to a death, we will look at the culpability of the supplier in regards to this,’’ Detective Inspector John Sutton, of Waitemata Police, said.

‘‘This will take some time and we are not in a position to comment any further on this, for operational reasons.

Det Insp Sutton said another ‘‘significant’’ arrest had also been made in the war against synthetics.

Police say they have seized product that would have had a street value of $1.5 million.

The first arrest came as part of Operation Tiger, which is an ongoing operation to target the importation of psychoactive substances.

The investigation was initiated after Customs seized a kilogram each of AMBFubinaca and ABPinaca, the psychoactive substances often used to make synthetic drugs.

Police worked in the background and last month nine search warrants were executed in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch.

‘‘Our most significant find was a storage unit in Rodney where 11kg of finished synthetic drugs were found and another 1kg of AMBFubinaca,’’ Det Insp Sutton said.

‘‘The 1kg located by police and the 2kg by Customs would be sufficient to manufacture around 150kg of synthetic drugs. That’s approximately 75,000 2g doses of the drug, which is worth a street value of $1.5 million.

‘‘The 11kg of finished synthetic drugs located in the storage unit would have had an approximate street value of $110,000.’’

A 58yearold man was arrested yesterday and charged with four counts of importing a psychoactive substance, possession of a psychoactive substance for supply and manufacturing a psychoactive substance.

He will appear in the North Shore District Court on Wednesday.

Det Insp Sutton said Operation Tiger was ongoing and police could not rule out the possibility of further arrests as inquiries continued.

He urged the community to contact the police with any information on drug suppliers. — NZME

Crimestoppers 0800555111.