P lab found in crashed car's boot

Photo / File

Whangarei police are investigating after a clandestine lab for making methamphetamine was found in the boot of a car that crashed south of Whangarei.

Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said police were called to an accident on State Highway One at Oakleigh, south of Whangarei, about 6am on Saturday.

Ms Kennett said a car had crossed the centre line, gone into a culvert and flipped on to its roof before landing on its wheels in a ditch.

A 20-year-old woman from Horeke was driving the car north at the time and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Ms Kennett said police discovered a clandestine meth lab in the boot of the car and enquiries are continuing, with no charges laid at this stage.

Northland police have been targeting methamphetamine manufacturers and dealers in recent months, but Saturday's find was as a result of the accident.

Northland police are vowing to continue their crackdown on methamphetamine after finding almost 200 grams of the dangerous drug and tens of thousands of dollars in cash during a number of busts in the past month.

The month of methamphetamine busts started in mid-July, when possibly the largest ever haul of methamphetamine ever seized in Northland and worth more than $150,000 was found after police backed by armed officers raided a Hikurangi house.

Almost 5.5 ounces of methamphetamine, $21,000 in cash, a P lab, a .22 calibre pistol and stolen property were allegedly found when members of the Whangarei Tactical Crime Unit raided the house with support from the Armed Offenders Squad.

Dealing methamphetamine - or P as it is also known - carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Just last week Frank William Murray, 47, unemployed, of Herekino, was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland to 19 years in prison on 18 drug-related charges after police found $300,000 worth of methamphetamine and a P-lab, protective clothing, breathing apparatus, and a total of $154,000 in cash on his farm at Whangape in 2012.