You’ve got mail: Check for drugs
Drugs are increasingly being ferried into New Zealand through the mailboxes of unsuspecting Wellingtonians, with police warning residents in the capital to be wary of mysterious packages.
Police have asked people to alert them to the arrival of parcels not addressed to them, that they did not order, saying the hilly western suburbs seemed to be a popular address target for drug importers.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch said that in recent weeks eight people had reported receiving the parcels in Brooklyn, Vogeltown, Karori, Wadestown and the western Hutt hill suburbs. A substance in one parcel was found to be a methamphetamine-like substitute so rarely seen in New Zealand there is no legislation against it yet. The drug, isopropylbenzylamine, has previously come to the attention of the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency due to it being used by meth manufacturers as a diluent or substitute for meth.
Leitch described the drug as ‘‘highly dangerous’’ and said he believed it was first seized in Wellington
only in late 2019, and had not been seen again in the city until now. ‘‘It is possible it is circulating currently in Wellington given the recent interception of the package here,’’ Leitch said.
Test results for another parcel found a substance known as 14B, a drug similar to GHB or GBL, also known as liquid ecstasy or fantasy. The parcels are addressed to fictitious people and are generally being sent from China, sometimes via the Netherlands. Addresses being targeted generally have a letterbox situated out of view, above or below the house, sometimes at the end of a long drive.
‘‘It is relatively easy for the recipient to watch it and when it is delivered, simply walk or drive up, grab the package out of the letterbox and raise very little suspicion.
‘‘We also ask for those living in the affected areas to be alert to people they do not recognise as regulars, in their street waiting around or approaching letterboxes which are not their own,’’ Leitch said.
The practice is not uncommon. In 2016, police asked owners of unoccupied holiday homes in Central Otago to check their letterboxes after intercepting packages of drugs addressed to homes in Clyde.