A 16-minute clip of Auckland Airport CCTV footagewas played for jurors today in the High Court at Auckland as they continue to hear evidence in the trial of Nigel Iuvale and Tungane Manuel, the last of nearly a dozen co-defendants in the Operation Selena drug trafficking investigation to maintain their innocence.
Manuel is a former Auckland Airport employee while Iuvale is alleged to have been the kingpin who organised the large importations, described by prosecutors as a “simple but ingenious” scheme to avoid Customs screening that was somewhat pervasive at the airport in 2021 before authorities caught on to the border security loophole.
The Crown alleges Manuel was among the baggage handlers who were in on the July 31, 2021, importation of an alleged 118kg of methamphetamine, stowed in the bulkhead of a flight arriving from Kuala Lumpur.
The video played for jurors, however, focused on another baggage handler: Martin Julian Pritchard, who pleaded guilty last Friday, just days before he was set to join the others in the dock.
A 16-minute clip of Auckland Airport CCTV footage was played for jurors today. Photo / Supplied
In the footage, a white Air NZ van can be seen driving up to the plane and parking underneath the left wing shortly after the plane taxis to the terminal. While the footage is taken from afar, investigators were certain Pritchard was the driver even before his guilty plea because he used his identification badge to swipe into the international arrivals area, said Detective Sergeant Scott Foster, who offered a live narration of the video from the witness box.
Pritchard, wearing an orange hi-vis vest, can then be seen opening the partially obstructed van door, walking up to where other baggage handlers are unloading the luggage onto trolleys as is protocol, then removing a package and taking it directly to the van. He took three packages in all before driving to the employee parking lot and putting the packages in his own vehicle, Foster said.
His appearance at the Malaysian Airlines flight was all the more peculiar because he was employed as a baggage handler in the domestic terminal, the detective told jurors.
Alleged methamphetamine trafficking syndicate leader Nigel Iuvale appears in the High Court at Auckland at the start of the Operation Selena jury trial. He is accused of having coordinated the illegal smuggling of hundreds of kilograms of the drug with the help of Auckland Airport baggage handlers. Photo / Jason Oxenham
While Customs has a rigorous screening process aimed at detecting drugs hidden in luggage, the system relied upon the luggage being brought to the terminal, Crown prosecutor Matthew Nathan explained during his opening address earlier this week.
“In Operation Selena, the defendants simply removed that risk,” Nathan said, explaining that the baggage handlers were given photos of the bags containing drugs.
The scheme was so successful that authorities didn’t catch on for months, at which time it is unknown exactly how much methamphetamine leaked through the border. Prosecutors think it was in the range of hundreds of kilos.
Some of the charges were laid after investigators pored over communications between the suspected syndicate members, piecing together details about prior shipments.
Former airport employee Tungane Manuel, right, appears in the High Court at Auckland for the start of the Operation Selena methamphetamine importation trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham
With so many co-defendants having already pleaded guilty, it is not disputed that the smuggling syndicate existed and that the importations took place. What is in dispute is whether Iuvale and Manuel were participants in the syndicate.
Lawyer Marie Taylor-Cyphers, representing Iuvale, said the communications the Crown relies on in an effort to link her client to the importations is tenuous. It will become clear as the trial unfolds why Iuvale pleaded not guilty, she predicted.
The trial is set to resume on Monday before Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith and the jury.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
