KEY POINTS:
The caregivers of a 3-year-old toddler who died of "unexplained head injuries" are to appear in the Manukau District Court today on P-related drug charges.
Dylan Hohepa Tonga Rimoni died in Auckland's Starship hospital on Friday.
Police have stopped short of saying they are handling a homicide
inquiry, saying the matter is being treated as a suspicious death.
Officers are saying nothing about the investigation or whether further charges will be laid.
But the officer in charge of the Counties Manukau child abuse team, Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Pizzini, told the Herald last night that a man and woman in their late 30s were arrested on Saturday night after several days of scene examinations at the family's home in Great South Rd, Drury.
Mr Pizzini said the pair arrested were occupants of the home and Dylan's caregivers, but were not related to the toddler.
The woman had been released on police bail, but the man was being held in custody until they appeared in court today, he said.
Each faces a charge of possessing precursor materials and equipment for the manufacture of methamphetamine.
They are also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.
Mr Pizzini would not say if the family had any gang links.
"I don't want to go into that. We're continuing inquiries. It's a difficult investigation, it's very delicate ... We're just working on the people that have had care of the boy and trying to establish what's happened."
Asked if police found other items such as the drug P or related paraphernalia at the property, he said:
"We've been searching the place for three days and we've obviously found quite a bit of stuff but I'm not going to go into it.
"There's charges now before the court and it will come out through the court process."
Mr Pizzini would not say if the family were known to the police.
He was also reluctant to comment on any bruises or other injuries the toddler may have had.
"There were injuries, but I'm not going to specify what they were."
He said it would not be helpful to the investigation if people yet to be interviewed by police had already learned what happened to Dylan through the media.
Police expect to complete their examination of the family's home today.
Twelve people have been formally interviewed by police but officers say they need to speak to many more.
"There's going to be a lot of work carried out this week," Mr Pizzini said.
"We're going to be concentrated on medical-type inquiries this week. There's a number of people that have been treating him [Dylan]."
Mr Pizzini would not elaborate on whether Dylan had previously been treated by doctors for injuries.
A post-mortem examination of the boy's body was done on Friday but Mr Pizzini would not be drawn on its findings.
"We're not releasing any details about the post-mortem examination because of the delicate nature of the investigation."
Police began investigating the case on Wednesday after a call from hospital staff advising them that Dylan had been admitted to Middlemore Hospital the previous night.
A team of 14 officers is working on the case.
