Baggage handlers to go to trial over ‘meth imports’

Twelve people charged over alleged drug smuggling at NewZealand’s border will face a High Court trial. The accused include six Air New Zealand baggage handlers. The accused face an array of charges, including importing hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine from Malaysia, participating in an organised criminal group, possessing the class A drug for supply, and selling the drug. They appeared at the High Court at Auckland yesterday where Justice Sally Fitzgerald set a six-week trial date and remanded them on bail and in custody to appear again in September. Police and Customs estimated the baggage handlers received more than 250kg of drugs from overseas over the past 10months. They said the group tried to smuggle 200kg ofmeth from Malaysia, but those packageswere stopped at the border. Police carried out searches at 20 addresses and found more than $500,000 in cash.