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NZ's biggest drug bust - a comedy of errors and 500kg of meth

Jared Savage
By
Jared Savage

Investigative Journalist

SPECIAL REPORT: Bumbling crooks or a sophisticated criminal network which struck bad luck? Jared Savage goes inside the events which led to suspicious locals in the Far North raising the alarm, a quick thinking young constable stopping 500kg of methamphetamine, and two police investigations which uncovered who was behind the smuggling operation.

When the sun came up on Ninety Mile Beach to reveal an unfamiliar boat abandoned on the sand, the first instincts of police officers were to get in the air.

Survivors who had been tipped