No arrests have been made for drug dealing in a downtown carpark despite Tauranga Art Gallery staff reporting suspicious activity.
Gallery director Penelope Jackson voiced her suspicions about drug dealing in Masonic Park to a meeting of the Tauranga City Council yesterday.
She said the dealing was taking place in daylight hours in the Willow St carpark. Ms Jackson told the Bay of Plenty Times that people had been seen exchanging envelopes for money.
The alleged drug dealing was part of a bigger picture of continuing concerns by the gallery, including staff being stalked when they left work and disorderly behaviour in the carpark and bus stops.
Western Bay of Plenty police tactical response manager Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair told the Bay of Plenty Times that as a result of information received from the gallery, people had been stopped and spoken to, but they had not been dealing in drugs.