A Northland man police say was at the top of a methamphetamine manufacturing and dealing ring has been jailed for 19 years.
Frank William Murray, 47, unemployed of Herekino was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland last week to 19 years in prison following the termination of a major police investigation into the ring dubbed Operation Enzone.
During the operation police found $100,000 in cash in a rusty ammunition box buried in a paddock on Murray's farm next to the homestead and saw his partner also convicted for allowing the property to be used to manufacture the drug. They also found $300,000 worth of methamphetamine and a P lab, protective clothing, breathing apparatus, and a total of $154,000 in cash. Another Northlander got nine-and-a-half years in jail for his part in the dealing operation.
Murray was sentenced on 18 drug related charges after he was found guilty on five counts of manufacturing the class A drug methamphetamine - also known as P - two of supplying methamphetamine; three of conspiracy to supply the drug; two of possessing precursor material to supply the drug; two of possessing materials to manufacture P; two of possessing equipment to manufacture P; one of conspiracy to supply the class B drug GHB (AKA fantasy) and one of possessing GHB.
Murray was found not guilty on two other charges of manufacturing P.