More than $1 million in cash was seized in June 2021 following the money-laundering investigation Operation Worthington. Photo / NZ Police
More than $1 million in cash was seized in June 2021 following the money-laundering investigation Operation Worthington. Photo / NZ Police
The shipping container from Thailand was declared to hold 60 electric motors, but Customs investigators found a total of 469kg of methamphetamine hidden inside the machinery.
At the time, in August 2019, it was the largest border seizure of drugs in New Zealand history and theinvestigation, Operation Manta, led to the arrests of a “shore party” working for a Canadian organised crime group.
The-Hoang Thai, a Canadian national, was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison for the record-breaking importation, while New Zealander Isaiah Te Hira was sentenced to 16 years and nine months.
Another Canadian, Harpreet Lidder, was sentenced to nine years and three months after police found 15kg of meth, 2kg of MDMA and $57,000 in his Auckland apartment.
The discovery of such an enormous amount of meth was a sign of things to come, as over the next five years law enforcement struggled with sophisticated crime syndicates flooding the country with drugs.
While stopping 469kg of methamphetamine from hitting the streets was to be celebrated, Operation Manta also looked backwards at how the Canadian crime group was operating in New Zealand.
Five earlier shipments were linked to the syndicate dating back to July 2018, with most – if not all – believed to have contained drugs.
The investigation identified two other Canadian nationals who had flown into the country to receive a previous shipment but had already left New Zealand, according to court documents obtained by the Herald.
Detectives from the National Organised Crime Group discovered text messages that indicated the two Canadians were providing large sums of cash to someone in New Zealand called “Tom”.
It was evidence of money-laundering, the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of profits gained by their offending, by making such proceeds appear to come from a legitimate source.
They often engage the services of so-called “third-party” launderers, who are not involved in the original crime that made the profits, but essentially act as contractors to clean the dirty money or transfer funds overseas.
Targeting these professional launderers became a strategic priority for police in recent years after New Zealand was criticised by a global anti-money-laundering body for a poor rate of prosecution.
The money-laundering investigation started after Customs found 469kg of methamphetamine hidden inside 60 electric motors from Thailand. Photo / Customs
A new investigation, Operation Worthington, was launched to identify “Tom” and, eventually, uncover other drug dealing clients using his professional money-laundering services.
Police obtained the call data for the phone used by “Tom” and identified the user as Tianling Zheng, who was running a group involved in cash exchanges with clients who were unknown to them.
These transactions were conducted using a token system. In “money drops”, a token is usually a picture or message of a serial number of a banknote.
The serial number is sent to both parties, from a third party often based overseas, and used as a passcode before the money is handed over to a stranger.
These “money drops” often take place in public spaces, such as carparks, so partial registration plate numbers and descriptions of the vehicles are also shared when the meetings are arranged.
The syndicate used a number of different organisers and drivers to complete the cash pickups, and Operation Worthington identified 66 “money drops”.
While detectives were only able to attribute a dollar value to half of those transactions, the total was still in excess of $10 million.
The money-laundering syndicate then placed the dirty cash into the financial system through bank accounts controlled by a multitude of associates.
The covert investigation ended in June 2021 with 21 people charged with money-laundering and drugs offences, with police also seizing $10m of assets.
However, the alleged ringleader was not among those arrested. Tianling Zheng left New Zealand during the investigation and has not returned.
His two main lieutenants, who also arranged money drops on Zheng’s behalf, have admitted their roles.
Lezhang Tang pleaded guilty to money-laundering and drug offences and was sentenced in the Auckland District Court this week to three years and five months in prison.
The other lieutenant, who still has name suppression, will be sentenced in October.
While the money-laundering syndicate was exposed because of the 469kg meth import by the Canadian drug syndicate, by watching the live “money drops”, Operation Worthington was also able to identify a number of previously unknown drug dealers using the cash exchange services.
One of those dodgy clients was Aisake Feleti, who was seen handing over a large bag in a supermarket car park. Inside the bag, police later discovered, was nearly $1.2m.
Police analysts managed to digitally break into Feleti’s cellphone and discovered a treasure trove of evidence of large-scale drug smuggling, which prompted an entirely separate investigation.
As the Herald revealed last week, Operation Selena then uncovered how different criminal groups used networks of corrupt Auckland Airport baggage handlers to import hundreds of kilograms of meth into the country.
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
