Bags of cocaine seized as part of the operation. Photo / Police
Bags of cocaine seized as part of the operation. Photo / Police
A man who police allege was part of an organised criminal group involved in a record-breaking cocaine importation scheme has been granted bail.
The 27-year-old man is one of seven people charged last month with importation and possession for supply of cocaine, and participating in an organised criminal group.
Heearlier pleaded not guilty and elected for trial by jury. The man faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted on the cocaine charges.
Raids in mid-November following an investigation by the Police National Organised Crime Group found enormous quantities of the white powder at a commercial property in New Lynn, West Auckland.
The cocaine was allegedly hidden within pipes inside a large boiler originally exported from Ecuador.
The man appeared in the Auckland District Court before Judge Claire Ryan on Friday morning via audio-visual link from prison. About a dozen family members were in court.
His lawyer, Steven Lack, successfully sought electronically monitored (EM) bail for the man, who was earlier granted interim name suppression. The Crown did not oppose bail.
Judge Ryan granted the man bail to his parents’ house on a range of conditions, including to remain at the house 24-7 unless granted prior approval from Corrections, not to associate with his co-defendants and not to possess or use any device capable of accessing the internet.
The Ecuadorian boiler in which the pipes containing cocaine were hidden. Photo / NZ Police
Police allege 190kg of cocaine was extracted from the boiler after it arrived in New Zealand. If proven by police, this would make the bust New Zealand’s largest single seizure haul of cocaine leading to arrests, the Herald understands.
All of the men charged were remanded in custody and granted interim name suppression after their appearances in the Auckland District Court in November, including a member of the Hells Angels. Some have since been granted bail.
The cocaine importation charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Police say the cocaine seized so far is worth up to $38 million on the street.
“This was a very sophisticated method of concealment with excellent collaboration of border authorities, which was key to identifying and flagging this import as suspicious,” detective inspector Paul Newman said.
Those arrested are listed in court documents as living at a range of properties in central and south Auckland. The accused range in age from 21 to 37.
Newman said the seizure is a significant find for both police and Customs.
“Organised crime groups are investing increasingly large amounts of money and resources to conceal drugs as they come across the border,” he said.
Police are not ruling out further seizures or arrests.
Thirty-five bricks of high-grade cocaine, weighing 1kg each, were smuggled into New Zealand in a 400kg diamante-encrusted horse sculpture. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Authorities are set to further deconstruct the boiler to establish the full extent and amount of cocaine concealed inside the machinery.
In March this year, Customs seized 700kg of cocaine in transit at Tauranga in a shipping container, but this did not lead to any arrests in New Zealand.
In 2016, a US man and a Mexican national were arrested and charged after 35kg was found concealed inside a diamante horse head.
Ronald Wayne Cook Senior was jailed for 17 years and nine months, while Agustin Suarez-Juarez received 19 years and nine months.
