NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Drug mules' amazing wild ride

Herald on Sunday
5 May, 2012 05:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Shenanigans on the Aurora were noticed. Photo / Martin Sykes

Shenanigans on the Aurora were noticed. Photo / Martin Sykes

A feuding couple's farcical attempt to smuggle a record $3 million cocaine haul into New Zealand was one of "the dumbest" criminal enterprises ever seen by the US judge who sentenced them.

Tony Wilkinson, 43, and Kirsty Harris, 26, had drunken fights and brazenly snorted cocaine while they were supposed to be travelling incognito among a "sea of white-haired seniors" on the P&O cruise ship Aurora.

The party-loving Harris even cheated on her older boyfriend with another alleged cocaine smuggler, 27-year-old Australian Ahmed Rachid, who was travelling on the same cruise, according to court documents.

This led to a drug-fuelled fight at one of the ship's bars which brought them to the attention of Homeland Security officials in San Francisco in February.

In sentencing the pair to seven years, three months' imprisonment, Judge Jeffrey White said they were guilty of "felony" stupidity and took pity on the pair.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was about the dumbest thing he could have ever done," said White, sentencing Wilkinson to four years and two months in a federal penitentiary. If the two had not pleaded guilty, they would have faced a mandatory 10 years in jail.

Despite the comical nature of their plot, New Zealand police and the US Justice Department said it would have caused "real harm".

Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill, of the Organised Financial Crime Agency, said it would have been the largest cocaine haul ever to reach New Zealand.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Certainly it would have significant impact on available supply and potential large profits for criminal groups who supplied this," he said. "It just goes to show that there is the market for that amount in New Zealand."

Wilkinson, a father-of-one, hatched the "hare-brained scheme" with Harris and an unknown Colombian to smuggle nearly 6kg on a cruise ship after he became mired in debt. They boarded the ship in England and picked up the drugs on the Caribbean island of Curacao. They were to keep some of the profits from the sale - and send the rest back to Colombia.

Somewhere between Curacao and the United States the couple had a falling out - and Harris struck up a romantic relationship with Rachid, who is also alleged to have picked up 7kg of cocaine on the island.

US officials say that it was a "scarcely believable" coincidence that each was unaware the other was smuggling drugs.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Shoe drug mules to be sentenced next month

08 Sep 01:07 AM
New Zealand|crime

Drug mule dies after package bursts

08 Sep 06:36 AM
New Zealand|crime

Drug mule to fight conviction

24 Mar 04:30 PM
New Zealand|crime

Drug ring boss jailed for 17 years

04 May 06:40 AM

Wilkinson's defence attorney Mary McNamara said her client became "enmeshed in a drug distribution endeavour that proved far beyond his ability to carry through".

Customs New Zealand said they were aware of the San Francisco drug haul and officers with sniffer dogs targeted the Aurora when it arrived in Auckland, but no drugs were discovered. However, four days later in Sydney, UK citizen Ronald Fletcher was arrested trying to disembark with 30kg of cocaine that he had allegedly transported through Auckland and the Bay of Islands.

- Bevan Hurley and James Robinson

Few drug checks on cruise passengers

Cruise ships are opening New Zealand's door to drug smugglers, with minimal Customs checks on people and luggage arriving by sea.

Drug detector dogs spent just four hours working on cruise ships in Auckland last year, despite more than 200,000 passengers arriving on 100 vessels. The sniffer dogs were used again when the P&O liner Aurora visited in February but they failed to detect 30kg of cocaine allegedly smuggled by UK citizen Ronald Fletcher.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Last year's figures, released under the Official Information Act, reveal there were no sniffer dog checks at Wellington and Christchurch ports.

At least 80 cruise ships are expected to visit Auckland this year. Customs Service spokeswoman Helen Keyes said officers used "a standard border risk assessment process" when they checked the passports of cruise passengers. "The Customs Service has deployed drug detector dogs when there has been determined a need to do so." She would not identify which ships were checked last year, but said cruise ships were "generally rated as low risk for drug smuggling".

Green Party border security spokesman Steffan Browning said New Zealand would quickly become a "soft touch" for drug smugglers.

- Celeste Gorrell Anstiss

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Person trapped, caravans lifted off ground amid strong wind gusts in Northland

New Zealand

Forestry leader says Tasman hit by growing trees – not slash

New Zealand

Tariff threat - has Trump cried wolf?

Watch

Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Person trapped, caravans lifted off ground amid strong wind gusts in Northland
New Zealand

Person trapped, caravans lifted off ground amid strong wind gusts in Northland

Two caravans were lifted at Tauranga Bay Holiday Park.

14 Jul 10:41 PM
Forestry leader says Tasman hit by growing trees – not slash
New Zealand

Forestry leader says Tasman hit by growing trees – not slash

14 Jul 10:35 PM
Tariff threat - has Trump cried wolf?
New Zealand

Tariff threat - has Trump cried wolf?

Watch
14 Jul 10:26 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP