Ferrari and Lamborghini among $7m of assets seized from alleged importer of New Zealand's biggest meth bust. Video / New Zealand Police
An Auckland businessman who was arrested following what authorities have described as the nation’s largest-ever drug bust is set to receive home detention after pleading guilty to a single charge of money laundering.
Mark Andrew Lowther, 26, was arrested in March 2022 along with nine others after police and Customs announced they had intercepted 613kg of methamphetamine - with an estimated value of $245 million - arriving through Auckland Airport.
Prior to the arrests, police had been covertly listening in on conversations, including those between Lowther and one of the main defendants, Justice Geoffrey Venning noted today as Lowther appeared in the High Court at Auckland for sentencing.
“At the time you were a close associate of [the other defendant],” Venning noted, describing Lowther as having acted as a “conduit” between the main defendant and a third man described as a member of an “established money laundering syndicate”.
The main defendant in the case was described as a person with gang affiliations who garnered police attention for his approximately $12 million in assets, including three properties, valuable artworks and 22 luxury vehicles. It was Lowther’s help with selling a $1.1 million Warkworth property that resulted in his money laundering charge.
The Ferrari was owned by a member of the Mongrel Mob, whom police said helped import the biggest ever shipment of methamphetamine into New Zealand.
The main defendant bought the Clayden Rd property in October 2019. Lowther then met with members of the alleged money laundering syndicate months later and arranged for them to receive $5 million that had been stuffed into 12 gym bags and left at a North Shore address, the judge said.
The money was trickled into a bank account through 600 separate deposits before it was used by the alleged syndicate member to purchase the same Warkworth property in August 2020 for $5 million - $3.9 million more than it had been bought for 10 months earlier, court documents note.
An operation investigating the importation of methamphetamine into New Zealand has seen the largest-ever interception of the illicit drug at our border, according to police.
“The purpose was plainly to conceal or disguise the source of the $5 million in cash which had been derived from drug offending,” Justice Venning said today. “The understanding was the property still in fact belonged to [the main defendant] and after a period of time the title would be transferred back to him or the property sold and its proceeds returned to [him].”
The property was sold again the following year for $1.6 million.
Defence lawyer Tudor Clee has said Lowther had no prior convictions and there’s no indication he made any profit from his involvement, which might have been spurred by prescription medication addiction. His client’s involvement in the transactions was much less than the other two men, he suggested, emphasising that his client was not ever charged with any direct drug offending.
Clee sought a discharge without conviction for his client, noting that a mark on his record would stymie Lowther’s future business ambitions. If the judge didn’t agree for a discharge without conviction, he asked that his client receive a sentence of community detention.
Venning agreed Lowther played a lesser role but ultimately rejected both requests, noting the significant amount of money that was laundered and the sophisticated process for doing so.
“It involved a sham sale and I consider you performed an important role in the transaction as you were a key intermediary between [the other two men]” Venning said.
The judge said a sentence of 12 months’ home detention would be the most appropriate outcome for the case. However, the sentence won’t be finalised until next week, after a report is provided on the suitability of the address where Lowther intends to stay.
A trial for Lowther’s co-defendants has been set for 2025.
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.
