Trio jailed for huge importation of meth
Three men have been jailed over their roles in a multimilliondollar methamphetamine importation deal.
Johnathon James Seal, 26, Michael Harrison Cooper, 33, and Simote Vea, 38, were sentenced in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday after being busted as part of Operation Grandeur – considered the biggest importation of meth into the South Island.
The estimated street value of the drugs was $13 million-$24m.
On November 1, 2017, Customs seized a consignment of 20 boxes of safety lamps, weighing 250kg.
It had arrived in Christchurch from Mexico via the United States, on a Singapore Airlines flight. Each box contained a lamp with two packages of methamphetamine hidden in the base, weighing about 1.2kg. Two other consignments, also intercepted by Customs, went to Auckland.
Vea was sentenced by Justice Gerald Nation to 15 years and seven months in jail. He has to serve at least seven years and six months of his sentence.
Cooper and Seal were both sentenced to 12 years and four months in jail, with no minimum period of imprisonment ordered.
Seal and Cooper, who were arrested in November 2017, pleaded guilty to the drug importation charges a week before their 10-day trial was to begin.
Vea, who was working at DHL Global Forwarding at the time, was found guilty on similar charges during a jury trial in October.
During the trial, Vea said he did not know that the packages contained methamphetamine,
Johnathon Seal, Michael Cooper and Simote Vea appear for sentencing in the High Court at Christchurch.
and did nothing to assist the importation – other than his job as customs broker.
Crown prosecutor Barnaby Hawes said it was ‘‘staggeringly unlikely’’ Vea could have been unwittingly involved in three drugs shipments in the space of eight days.
Justice Nation said yesterday Vea had since ‘‘unconditionally accepted’’ the jury’s verdict.
Vea was well-respected at his job and worked hard to become a senior and trusted employee of DHL before the offence.
‘‘This offending represents a very significant fall from grace,’’ the judge said.
Vea said at the time of the offence he was using methamphetamine daily.
The judge said the benefit to Vea was not only monetary but also the access to the drug.
It was estimated the potential social cost the importation could have caused was more than $60m, Justice Nation said.
‘‘You are all young enough to make something of your lives after you are released from prison and in some way compensate for the offending you became involved in – and that is what the community would want to see from each of you,’’ he told the trio.