The man was arrested and taken to the Northland Region Corrections Facility, pending extradition. Photo / NZME
An Australian drug-dealer tried to escape justice in his home country, moving in with a Northland woman and arranging to have $1 million paid into New Zealand bank accounts.
He holed himself up at a remote Far North rural property, more than 5000km from Perth, where police had charged him with possession of methamphetamine for supply.
For more than two years, he evaded the Australian criminal justice system.
That ended last August, when New Zealand police acting on an extradition request from their Western Australia counterparts turned up at his house with a warrant.
They arrested him, seized $10,600 in the house, and took the man to the Northland Region Corrections Facility near Kaikohe, pending extradition.
Details of the man’s bid to evade justice are outlined in a civil court case, under which New Zealand police want to seize his assets.
The man’s name and that of a woman – described in court documents as his wife or ex-wife – have been suppressed by the High Court.
The man is called Mr B in a recent court judgment, and his wife is Ms H.
The man has no criminal history in New Zealand, but has an extensive record in Australia, including for drug-dealing.
In August 2022, the man was charged in Western Australia with possession of a trafficable quantity of methylamphetamine – the word used in Australian law for methamphetamine – with intent to supply.
At the time, he was living in South Australia, but police alleged he was part of a national syndicate moving meth into Western Australia from other states.
In addition to the criminal charges, Western Australia police moved to seize most of his property as being earned from the proceeds of crime. They served a “freezing notice” on him in January 2023.
The next month, the man fled across the Tasman.
This had been pre-planned, judging by an intercepted phone conversation he had with his brother in July 2022, outlining a scheme to evade the Western Australia police by going to live with his wife in New Zealand.
He moved in with her at her Far North property.
He imported a Hyundai vehicle and later, after obtaining an insurance pay-out, purchased a quad bike.
The man brought cash to New Zealand and deposited it into an ANZ bank account he had opened earlier. He later opened other bank accounts with Westpac.
Police say he then directed associates in Australia to deposit about $1 million into the New Zealand accounts.
Police say that the way he went about doing this met the test for “criminal activity”, which made his assets in New Zealand liable for seizure under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.
They told the High Court that the man transferred the assets to New Zealand knowing they were subject to the Australian freezing notice, or made intentional false representations to others to allow it to happen.
They alleged this was equivalent to the offence of “obtaining by deception” under the Crimes Act.
Alternatively, the man brought assets into New Zealand to conceal them from the Western Australia police and avoid the freezing notice. This, police alleged, amounted to money laundering – also a Crimes Act offence.
Police also said that the woman was made a signatory of the man’s bank accounts in September 2025, after he was arrested and held in custody.
Police said that because she knew, or recklessly did not question, that the money came from crime, the funds then became the subject of the offence of receiving.
On that basis, police applied to the High Court for a restraining order over three bank accounts, some funds held in a solicitor’s trust account, and the Hyundai and quad bike.
Justice Jane Anderson granted the restraining order under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009.
“There is strong evidence that Mr B has been seeking to use New Zealand as a safe harbour to conceal and hold property in the context of seeking to avoid the effect of the freezing notice made against him in Australia, with the assistance of Ms H,” the judge said.
“I conclude that the Commissioner [of Police] has met the threshold for a restraining order.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.