Asian drug gangs use students as mules

Students from China are being used by organised crime to bring drugs into New Zealand, with an estimated $90 million of methamphetamine ingredients seized at borders in the last financial year.

And Customs says the booming number of seizures involving the ingredients is straining resources.

Of the 525 individual seizures of ingredients or precursors, such as pseudoephedrine tablets, made in 2004-2005, 98 per cent originated in China.

About 80 per cent of the people involved were short-stay students.

Customs' manager of drug investigations, Simon Williamson, said the involvement of a small number of students impacted on the reputation of the mainly law-abiding students coming here from China.

"We are concerned with the involvement of sectors of the community, particularly short-stay students. They are being used by Asian organised crime.

"This is serious criminal offending."

Last August police and Customs officials found $9 million worth of illegal drugs hidden inside lava lamps imported into Auckland from China, allegedly by Chinese students.

Customs' annual report shows that while there was a drop in the number of heroin, cocaine and LSD seizures, the amount of crystal methamphetamine and cold and flu tablets intercepted continued to rise.

About 24kg of crystal methamphetamine was seized, a 782 per cent rise on a year earlier, while 1.43 million ephedrine or pseudoephedrine tablets were intercepted, up from 1.29 million.

The tablets could have been used to manufacture about 90kg of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of between $64 million and $90 million.

"That's an awful lot, it's at an all-time record high," Mr Williamson said.

"It's literally sapping our capability and police resources. These are interceptions, it's not the finished product."

The report says the drug hauls show New Zealand is targeted by transnational trafficking syndicates, both as a transit point and as an end market.

There were 73 significant drug seizures last year, involving a joint operation with police, compared with 32 a year earlier.

Sixty-three people were arrested, including 21 couriers. Most of the detected methamphetamine is sourced from China and Malaysia.

Mr Williamson said it was not possible to estimate the amount of drugs that managed to get past border controls undetected.

The Government has boosted Customs resources, increasing staff numbers and targeting drug seizures, and Mr Williamson said that had also led to an increase in seizures.