Drug trade: The gangs are all eyes and all ears

The job of policing organised crime and catching drug smugglers is surreal and dangerous. It is its own world, with odd rules of engagement and grudging respect. There is a recognition that although the hunters and the hunted are enemies, each has a job to do.

But the engagements can be a matter of life and death. Several years ago, three motorcycle gang members confronted a man they (rightly) suspected was an undercover cop. Over several hours, they threatened him, held a knife to his throat and interrogated him.

In the end, they let him go but only because they could not verify their suspicion. Besides, one officer reasons, they would have been in a difficult position had they confirmed their victim's identity. To kill a policeman would be to declare war on the biggest gang of all.

Within the agencies whose job it is to crack the drug rings, frontline officers are committed and ardent. Higher up the chain, the policing of gangs and drugs provokes fervent political debate.

Justice Minister Phil Goff has been eager to act and be seen to be acting, introducing law changes to add to the law enforcement armoury.

"The advantage New Zealand has in terms of its greater geographical isolation, sea borders and smaller size is that we haven't had the same degree of organised crime as other countries have had," says Goff. "That's not to say we haven't had organised crime here - we have and we do. I want to send the message that this country has as tough a legislation as any other country in the democratic world."

Out on the streets, investigators know organised crime has laid its foundations already, and that the lengths being taken to elude the law are sophisticated. Gangs have become more canny, employing their own intelligence tactics to counter police.

In the course of this investigation, the Herald endeavoured, through official channels, to obtain classified police reports. We were told that, for on-going intelligence reasons, it would not be possible. The Herald has learned one of the reports found its way into the hands of the Hells Angels several years ago. Also discovered in raids on one gang member's properties were brochures on counter-surveillance, night-vision equipment, and photographs of police.

Experienced investigators say gangs have become ever-more determined to avoid detection. Meeting places are chosen to minimise the risk of electronic eavesdropping. A sign found in the Highway 61 headquarters declaring, "This bar is bugged so **** up" is not uncommon.

Chemists too have been inveigled into the game of cat and mouse. As the law moves to clamp down on particular drugs, chemical manipulation takes place to create new designer drugs not captured by the stricter classification.

Methamphetamine, for instance, was made a class A drug in May 2003, attracting a life sentence for anyone convicted of importing, manufacturing or supply. But Institute of Environmental Science and Research scientists have discovered at least one new drug, dimethylamphetamine, which has similar properties but is class C.

The party pill experience has shown that it is possible to evade legal restrictions entirely. While BZP-based party pills are sold unrestricted in New Zealand, they are illegal in the US and in two states of Australia.

Police and Customs officers are frustrated that the legal process takes a comparatively long time to classify new drugs seen as emerging problems.

They advocate a system used in other countries where new drugs are subject to a holding classification until their legal status can be properly assessed.

"The US and the British have the holding classification while in New Zealand it's a free-for-all until it's scheduled and that could be a few years and by then the drug has a foothold," says one senior police intelligence officer.

The Ministry of Health's chief public health adviser, Ashley Bloomfield, says New Zealand's process is "robust", although it does not have emergency procedures as has the United States and Britain.

It took time to collect data for the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs to consider but this usually took "months not years, particularly if there is a sense of urgency as there often is around these substances".

Regulations already cover derivatives, where subtle changes are made to already classified drugs.

The debate over the drug classification system reveals how New Zealand has become ensnared by the globalised drug market.

International drug lords, in tandem with willing New Zealand business partners in the gang scene, have seen to it that New Zealand is fully part of the worldwide market.

Five years ago, New Zealand was largely untapped when it came to designer substances. The explosion of P, Ecstasy, and an array of pills has demonstrated that there are many willing consumers. Shrewd operators here and overseas have made a killing. The cost to society is mounting.

Where will it end? Who knows? That's business.