Cocaine accused ‘on vacation’
Two men charged over New Zealand’s biggestever cocaine haul told authorities they were in New Zealand on a diving holiday.
The first day of the trial of Mexican Augustin Suarez-Juarez and American Ronald Cook began at the High Court in Auckland on May 23 before Justice Sarah Katz and a jury of eight women and four men. Both have pleaded not guilty to importing and possessing cocaine.
Last year, customs found 35kg of cocaine, valued at $14 million, inside a diamante-encrusted horse sculpture. The 400kg sculpture was freighted by air from Mexico to Auckland in May, and sparked a joint investigation by customs and police.
In the Crown’s opening statement, lawyer David Stevens said that when the drugs were discovered by customs, they were replaced with a harmless powder in all but one package. In that final package, police placed a recording device and six grams of real cocaine, so whoever tried to sell the packages could be charged. Stevens said the defendants arrived and picked up the horse’s head and moved it to a house they had rented in west Auckland, then left the country. When they returned to New Zealand, they told Customs they were here for business.
The Crown alleged the only purpose for the trip was to access the cocaine and sell it to others. Stevens said that on discovering they had been under surveillance, the men attempted to leave New Zealand in a hurry but were arrested at the departure lounge.
‘‘The Crown says the defendants had no legitimate purpose for travelling to New Zealand on either visit. When they realised something was wrong, they tried to leave the country.’’
Stevens said 40 witnesses would be called over the four-week trial.
THE DEFENCE ARGUMENT:
Both defence lawyers questioned whether their clients were aware there was a controlled drug in the horse’s head. Sam Wimsett acting for Cook told the jury it was up to the Crown to prove beyond reasonable doubt Cook was guilty of the crime.
‘‘Do not assume Mr Cook knew there was cocaine inside that horse’s head,’’ he said. Wimsett said he would reference the movie The Sixth Sense when talking about what he called ‘‘confirmation bias’’. Peter Kaye acting for SuarezJuarez also told the jury the Crown had to prove his client was guilty. He told the jury they had to decide, based on the evidence, how much involvement and knowledge his client had of the crime.