Drug boss motivated to make money by distributing pink pills and meth
The head of a drug syndicate told police his motivation behind the syndicate was to “make money”.
Shuchen “Ace” Liu appeared at the Auckland District Court yesterday where his lawyer, Harry Redwood, appearing on behalf of Ron Mansfield KC, said guilty pleas could be entered for all the charges.
His wife, Xiuxiu Hao, also pleaded guilty to a representative charge of money laundering in regards to the purchase of a Ferrari 488 GTB, worth $365,000, and then a Ferrari 488 Pista, valued at $630,000. Some of the money she used to buy these luxury cars was “tainted” given her husband’s drug activities.
In 2020, the police National Organised Crime Group began investigating a drug syndicate involved in the manufacture, possession and commercial scale supply of class A and B drugs around New Zealand.
The investigation, code-named Operation Cincinatti and Escondido, saw 26 people arrested as part of the sting in October.
Liu, who also went by Ace, was responsible for sourcing a location to cook the meth. He was also in charge of sourcing the MDMA powder and then would press MDMA into pills stamped with a “Pink Porsche”.
He established a network of associates and dealers he used to sell the drugs throughout New Zealand.
From July 2019, Liu sourced methamphetamine in several different ways – he manufactured it, he imported it and he obtained it from associates before going on to sell it.
Wickr conversations between Liu, “popkakaka” and his head cook showed the pair discussing making the meth and then selling it for a profit.
When police arrested Liu and searched his phone, they found a tick list. He told them he generally sold an ounce of methamphetamine for $5500.
He imported nearly 4kg of methamphetamine in four separate packages from New York and Long Island in the United States. Each package was sent to separate addresses around Auckland and declared as protective clothing, construction site shoes and Halloween costumes.
In February 2020, a “Pink Porsche” pill press was delivered to Liu’s Kohimarama home. There he produced bulk quantities of pink Porsche pills by mixing MDMA powder, binders and caffeine before mixing it with pink dye and pressing them into pills stamped with the Porsche logo.
He would generally sell the pills in 1000 lots. Liu then used a warehouse in St Johns to produce the pills. Police used a hidden CCTV camera to monitor the movements at the warehouse and saw a co-defendant visit the property 10 times in a three-month period only for mere minutes, which the summary of facts said was consistent with drug deals taking place.
During the offending period, Liu and Hao’s IRD records showed that their declared incomes were insufficient to be a legitimate source of the funds they had.
For the purchase of the Ferrari 488 GTB, $141,000 used as some of the money to buy the car was tainted. That car was then traded-in to buy a Ferrari Pista.
“Upon analysing the contents of Liu’s cell phone, police located a plethora of messages relating to the supply of controlled drugs.
At Liu and Hao’s St Heliers home, police found a backpack with 983 grams of meth, about 30 grams of MDMA powder, a nine millimetre ‘Bruni’ pistol and ammunition and $208,538 in cash.
In 2022, the acting national commander of the Comancheros, Seiana Fakaosilea, was jailed for his part in Operation Cincinatti.
Yesterday, Judge June Jelas remanded Liu in custody and Hao on bail to appear for sentencing in July.