Drug pair face up to 20 yrs’ jail

Court hears offloader offered $50k for multimillion-dollar meth haul

One man travelled from a faraway continent hoping to pay off debts belonging to his girlfriend’s dad. Another man was promised $50,000 to help deliver a meth haul estimated at $250 million.

Now, The-Hoang Thai and Isaiah John Te Hira will spend many years behind bars for their roles in the 2019 international drug conspiracy.

The High Court in Auckland yesterday heard the methamphetamine was stashed inside 60 electric motors sent from Thailand in a shipping container.

The 469kg meth shipment Customs and police found in the electric motors exceeded even the infamous 449kg stash discovered at Ninety Mile Beach five years ago.

Thai, a Canadian national, pleaded guilty to two charges of meth possession for supply.

Aucklander Te Hira admitted one charge of importing meth and one of possessing the Class A drug for supply.

“Once upon a time this would have been the most unusual importation,” said his lawyer, Maria Pecotic. “The imports into New Zealand now are getting larger and larger.”

She said Te Hira had been expecting the drugs to arrive in ovens, not motors.

“He’d only organised one storage place. There were many discussions about where they were going to put the rest of it. It wasn’t very organised. Clearly, that shows his lack of knowledge.”

Pecotic said her client was now working hard to undo damage incurred during a turbulent childhood.

The court heard intercepted messages showed a person known as “Lucky” sent instructions to Thai.

Thai’s defence counsel, Julie-Anne Kincade, QC, said her client passed those instructions to others.

Kincade said Thai, 25, was less influential in the drug syndicate than the Crown alleged.

Thai grew up in Toronto with no good adult role models but was a supportive big brother who looked after younger siblings, Kincade said.

His mother abandoned the Vietnamese-Canadian family when Thai was 12.

Prosecutor Henry Steele challenged suggestions the two men weren’t aware of the scale of the meth importation.

“They clearly know whatever’s coming is large.”

Steele said Thai’s second charge related to a separate 26kg pile of meth which he gained “by hook or by crook”.

Thai and Te Hira were

Once upon a time this would have been the most unusual importation. Maria Pecotic, defence counsel

caught after Customs began investigating suspected drug importing through a company called NZ Importing Group Ltd.

Justice Kit Toogood said a local logistics company unwittingly became involved.

He said Thai came to New Zealand solely to be in the drug trade, and to pay off his girlfriend’s dad’s gambling debts.

The judge called the stash “a virtual mountain of misery”.

The court was told Te Hira had expected $50,000 for helping offload the drugs, with instructions from Thai.

Te Hira made a “terrible mistake” chasing what he thought would be easy money, Justice Toogood said.

Both men kept their heads down during sentencing.

Thai was sentenced to 20 years and six months’ imprisonment and Te Hira to 16 years’ imprisonment.