Some of the 501kg of methamphetamine that was landed on Ninety Mile Beach last June.
Some of the 501kg of methamphetamine that was landed on Ninety Mile Beach last June.
An Auckland man has been jailed for 22 years for his part in the largest ever seizure of methamphetamine in New Zealand - 501kg of the drug landed on Ninety Mile Beach last year.
Amoki Matoto Fonua, 32, appeared for sentence in the High Court at Whangarei today after earlierpleading guilty to one charge of importing methamphetamine - or P as it is commonly known - possessing methamphetamine and participating in an organised criminal group.
Justice Graham Lang suppressed most of the sentencing information, but allowed the Northern Advocate to report the outcome.
Fonua was arrested along with at least six other people after the drug was landed on Ninety Mile Beach June last year.
Justice Lang said the maximum penalty for the methamphetamine charges was life imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
His starting point for Fonua was 30 years' imprisonment. Then after giving him a discount for pleading guilty and other personal circumstances, he sentenced Fonua to 22 years' jail, with a non-parole period of eight years' and nine months' jail on the methamphetamine charges.
Justice Lang also sentenced Fonua to five years' jail on the charge of participating in an organised criminal group. The sentences are to be served concurrently.
