Drug Lord gives NZ police slip at Heathrow

Rafal Luczynski

A globe-trotting drug dealer has embarrassed New Zealand police after escaping from two detectives who were escorting him at London's Heathrow Airport. He is still on the run.

The escape of Rafal Luczynski, 32, from the custody of two South Auckland detectives is now subject of a high-level police inquiry. Police bosses want to know how Luczynski got away from detective Mark Osborne - who headed the high-profile celebrity drug ring inquiry - and one other detective when they were meant to deliver him back to Poland.

The escape is particularly embarrassing because the last place the officers saw Luczynski was Heathrow - one of the busiest and most security conscious airports in the world.

Luczynski, who is believed to have Polish mafia connections, is now officially a "missing person" - last seen somewhere inside Terminal One of Heathrow International. The Metropolitan Police don't know where he is or how he got away. They asked the Herald on Sunday if New Zealand's police would have given Luczynski his passport before allowing him to escape.

Luczynski was released from New Zealand prison this month, only three-and-a-half years after receiving a 12-year sentence on charges of being involved in importing 4kg of amphetamine worth $4 million in early 2000.

Luczynski stood trial after being on the run for two years, having escaped in 2001 by slipping off his home detention anklet and leaving the country on what the Herald on Sunday believes was a false New Zealand passport.

He was picked up two years later in New York, where he was caught after boasting about how he had escaped from New Zealand.

Luczynski was part of a ring which included two other Polish men. One of those - Jan Andrezei Panzer - has also been released, after serving five years of a 10-year sentence, and is living in Sandringham on a New Zealand passport. The other, Maciek Korczowski, also skipped bail and went on the run for a year before being captured in the South Island.

Luczynski was released early from his sentence this month and was transferred into police custody to be deported back to Poland.

"An immigration alert has been placed on Mr Luczynski which will prohibit him from boarding a plane to New Zealand."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said a New Zealand police officer had raised the alert at 6.50am on October 12, telling airport authorities that a prisoner had escaped.

Assistant commissioner Peter Marshall confirmed that two police officers were responsible for escorting Luczynski back to Poland. They flew via Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, to Heathrow in England, where Luczynski escaped.

Marshall said police were investigating how the escape had occurred and whether changes needed to be made to deportation.

"While this is acknowledged as an embarrassing situation, it should be noted that hundreds of individuals have been re-moved from New Zealand by police on behalf of immigration authorities over the years, and to our knowledge, this is the first such incident," said Marshall.

Police headquarters attempted to spread the blame for the escape in a written statement to the Herald on Sunday. The statement read: "Police in transiting countries and in Poland were advised by Interpol Wellington of this removal... Each country provides police assistance if available.

"Upon arrival at Heathrow Airport, London, police did not meet this flight and while in the process of transiting to a British Airways flight to Poland Luczynski escaped from the two officers and has not yet been located."

This was rejected by the Metropolitan Police, whose spokesman said: "It's not for us normal procedure to provide assistance for transfer flights." The incident was so embarrassing for NZ police that commissioner Howard Broad informed Police Minister Annette King after finding out about the escape. It is understood that King's office told the commissioner that the matter was "operational" and he would have to deal with it.

Immigration NZ group manager for border security Api Fiso said Luczynski entered New Zealand as a visitor in May 1999 on a Polish passport. He was approved for short-term permits, allowing him to remain in New Zealand and he provided the department with a police clearance certificate in 1999 from Poland showing he had no previous convictions.