Drug bosses dupe Asian landlords

Dealers choose to make P in NZ because of lighter penalties. Photo / Martin Sykes

Asian landlords are being used as pawns in the illegal drug trade as dealers rent their properties as mailing addresses to import P precursors.

With border seizures of precursors having increased by 1200 per cent in five years, Customs said it was finding containing the illegal trade "a huge challenge".

Customs drug investigations manager Bill Perry said the trade was "very much a Chinese thing" and activities were usually kept within the community.

Distributors seek out rental properties from the classified adverts in local Chinese and Korean newspapers, discuss their operations in ethnic script in email and text, and pay rent in cash to avoid detection, according to Mr Perry.

He said the department was doing all it could to stop the imports.

"We are upskilling our detector dogs, use x-ray a lot more and have placed a customs officer in Beijing for the purpose of exchanging information, but this is still a huge challenge. But when we get on to one stream of import, they just move on to another stream."

The department is approaching local Chinese and Korean media to warn landlords to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity.

Those involved in the drug rings, and who were doing the renting, were mainly from the "transient groups", such as international students or business visa holders, and were generally aged between 19 and 30, he said.

"They ask a lot of questions, such as what time does the mail get delivered. They pay cash up front but don't move in, or even move any furniture in."

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson said: "Previously [landlords] had to worry about their properties being used as P labs, now vacant properties and sublet rooms are being given as the delivery address for pseudoephedrine-based precursors."

Chinese landlord Su Wende said police warned him of the trend three years ago after one of his rental properties off Lincoln Rd in Henderson was identified as a drugs drop-off point.

"The tenants were having gib boards, stuffed with P ingredients, delivered to that house," he said.

Another landlord, Jenny Zhang, said tenants were complaining that drug parcels continued to be dropped off at her Mangere East property, six months after the old "tenants" left.

"I asked them to take it to the police, but the tenants [would] rather dump it than report it because they are worried that they might get arrested," Ms Zhang said.

A police spokeswoman said dealers chose to manufacture the drug here because of the lighter penalties.

"Unlike some parts of Asia, these people don't risk facing the death penalty here."

* Getting higher

Ephedrine/pseudoephedrine seized (tablets or powder equivalent of 90mg tablets)

2002 254,987

2003 830,320

2004 1,313,179

2005 1,664,228

2006 2,667,068

2007 1,766,200

2008 3,289,233

2009(ytd)480,989

In the past eight months the average size of a precursor seizure has increased from 400g to 5kg