But he has finally been arrested after 10 years at large.
The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Sergeant John Sowter, said Karpavicius was taken into police custody in Latvia as he travelled to Turkey.
A "red notice" posted by Interpol had alerted Latvian authorities to the serious drugs charges he faced in New Zealand.
Police were now organising paperwork in a bid to extradite him.
Karpavicius disappeared on a false passport in 2001, skipping the country while on a $100,000 bail bond for cocaine and methamphetamine charges.
His name resurfaced during the trial in October last year, where he was named as the global kingpin of a drug and money-laundering syndicate.
As well as having his fingerprints on the Harry Potter book, drug squad detectives also tapped phone calls between Karpavicius and Ronald Terrence Brown, one of the godfathers of the criminal underworld.
Brown, 66, admitted bringing millions of dollars of drugs into New Zealand and was sentenced to 11 years in prison after admitting eight charges related to the importation and supply of Ecstasy, methamphetamine and LSD.
He also admitted using a false passport and laundering more than $4 million over three years.
The court heard evidence from Mr Sowter that Brown had paid millions of dollars to Karpavicius through bank account transfers or money mules.
