Nearly 30kg of methamphetamine was located in two suitcases. Photo / Customs NZ
Nearly 30kg of methamphetamine was located in two suitcases. Photo / Customs NZ
Five people have been arrested at Auckland International Airport during the past week after drugs were found in luggage.
The arrests relate to three separate methamphetamine seizures, worth $15.2 million.
The drugs were found in plastic packages and a fake book.
On November 10, customs officers found 19 individual vacuum-sealedpackages in one suitcase and 17 packages in the luggage of a 32-year-old United States national arriving from San Francisco.
The haul amounted to an estimated 19kg of methamphetamine, worth up to $5.7 million in retail value.
Officers also located a vial on a keychain inside the passenger’s handbag with an estimated 3g of cocaine, worth about $1,050.
A day earlier Customs officers searched the luggage of a 69-year-old French national travelling from South Africa via Hong Kong and found a book titled ‘Apologise, Forgive, Forget’.
Inside was a wooden box allegedly concealing just under 2kg of methamphetamine worth up to $594,300.
A week earlier, on November 2, three US nationals, aged between 31 and 48, arrived on a flight from Los Angeles.
Customs officials seized 19kg of methamphetamine from two suitcases. Photo / NZ Customs
A baggage search for two suitcases, belonging to one passenger, allegedly identified 11 individual vacuum-sealed packages amounting to nearly 30kg of methamphetamine, worth a street value of $8.9 million.
Two associated passengers were arrested for their alleged role in the smuggling attempt.
Customs Auckland Airport manager Paul Williams said 2025 had been a record year for Auckland Airport in terms of drug seizures.
Frontline customs officers have seized an estimated 670kg of methamphetamine and cocaine from passengers and unaccompanied luggage.
“Criminal networks are actively targeting New Zealanders by pushing their products here for profits,” he said.
“They keep sending packages, and we keep seizing them. We have every intention of continuing to catch drug couriers heading into a busier summer season.”
Nearly 2kg of methamphetamine was found in a ‘book’. Photo / NZ Customs
The discovery was just over a month since Customs officials seized a duffel bag containing 21 bricks of cocaine, worth about $7.3 million, from a shipping container at the Port of Tauranga.
Inside the container, among legitimate goods, Customs officers found a shrink-wrapped bag with 21 bricks of the Class-A drug, branded with “VESPA” and a “mouse logo” and wrapped in “fragile” tape.
In July, 150kg of cocaine - worth about $58.2 million - was found at the Port of Tauranga in a shipping container from Jamaica.
The bricks were marked with an “X”, the words “good luck” and a coat of arms bearing the Latin phrase Custodi Civatatem Domine — meaning “Guard the city, O Lord”.
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