Chef accused of conspiring to cook new form of meth makes clean break before court date

About 160 litres of t-boc "chemically masked" methamphetamine, labelled as dishwashing liquid, left Hong Kong for NZ earlier this year. Photo / NZ Police

A former chef accused of conspiring to cook large quantities of meth with ingredients smuggled into New Zealand under the guise of dishwashing liquid has failed to appear in court.

Shui Tong Wong, 59, did not appear for a case review hearing at Auckland District Court today alongside two of his co-accused.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by the court after his lawyer couldn't immediately contact him.

At an earlier hearing the court was told that Wong, a former chef and takeaway business operator, wasn't a flight risk because he has been a New Zealand resident for 33 years.

He had earlier been remanded in custody before later being granted bail.

Wong is part of a group charged with several offences relating to the supply of methamphetamine and the possession of equipment with intent to manufacture the class-A drug.

He was arrested at a Newmarket TAB earlier in the year after an investigation by the National Organised Crime group, code-named Operation Reverse, unveiled what was believed to be a new method of smuggling drugs into the country.

On January 14 this year a consignment of cargo containing about 160 litres of a substance labelled as dishwashing liquid left Hong Kong aboard the vessel MOL Destiny.

The shipment arrived in New Zealand on January 28 and was examined by Customs. Once analysed, the substance was found to contain a material known as t-boc.

T-boc is a form of methamphetamine that is chemically masked to prevent it being detected by authorities.

The consignment could have been converted into about 120kg of meth, and would have been worth $148 million. Photo / NZ Police

Through a chemical process t-boc can be converted back to meth for sale. The police operation is thought to have been the first time this form of meth was seized in New Zealand.

In the days after the shipment arrived police allege the defendants delivered the consignment to an address in Pakuranga, before moving it using a delivery company to a storage unit in New Lynn, and finally to an address in Te Atatu.

Wong's co-accused Thamamanoun Mingsisiouphanh, 47, and Yuen Cheung Chan, 42, both appeared in court today.

Chan, a salesman, was remanded in custody until August 23, while Mingsisiouphanh, who entered not-guilty pleas to two new drugs charges, will also appear again on the same date.

It is understood the liquid seized in the operation could have been converted into about 46kg of pure meth.