Drug gangs and the Govt are both increasing funding, who will win? – Editorial

Customs staff based at the Port of Auckland are among those working hard to stop drugs at the border. Photo / Mike Scott

Editorial

THREE KEY FACTS

• The Government is increasing efforts to combat drug imports with an additional $35 million for Customs.
• Organised crime groups from South America and Asia are targeting New Zealand due to high drug prices.
• The funding will add 60 Customs roles and enhance technological capabilities to prevent drug smuggling.

We are entering a new stage in the Government’s battle to crack down on drug imports.

Drug gangs in South and Central America and Southeast Asia regard us as a lucrative market.

We pay well for their products, so the risk for the criminals and their drug mules is worth it. Wastewater testing revealed in the second half of last year that New Zealand consumed methamphetamine at the highest levels ever recorded.

During the past decade, we have seen new and creative ways for drugs to make it past our watch.

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Meth and cocaine hidden inside diamante horse heads, construction materials and soft toys are just some of the methods Customs officers have encountered.

Herald reporters have seen first-hand the hard work our Customs officers do to stop the drugs at the border, but the harm is still making its way through.

Yesterday, Customs Minister Casey Costello announced an additional $35 million for our border security to help prevent organised crime groups from bringing illicit drugs into the country.

The funds are due to be released over the next four years and will fund 60 additional Customs roles, including investigations and prosecutions, intelligence, and border operations.

“New Zealand is increasingly being targeted by organised crime groups,” Costello said.

“These groups are increasingly targeting the Pacific and New Zealand, which has some of the world’s highest prices for illicit drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine.”

A Herald investigation into a spike in drug use in New Zealand found the Government has been “losing the fight” against organised crime groups.

These groups are becoming more sophisticated and are using more advanced technology to outflank our efforts at the border and further abroad.

Part of the new funding, Costello said, will increase Customs’ technological capability.

In the space of a decade we have gone from stopping 55kg of meth a year to 90kg a week.

It is a brutally hard fight and as long as these criminal groups make money and sell more product than they lose, the drugs will keep coming.

But as every Customs and police officer will tell you, it is worth the fight because we are all too aware of the harm.

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