Police bust huge money laundering scheme

Some of the firearms and drugs seized as part of Operation Acacia. Photo / NZPA

A Chinese-born man appeared in Auckland District Court this afternoon in connection with this morning's bust on a financial exchange business.

Xiang Zhang, 27, of Glenfield on Auckland's North Shore, who faced a charge of money laundering, was bailed to reappear on August 6.

Police this morning busted a multi-million dollar money-laundering operation in Auckland, another phase in a year-long organised crime sting that last week netted a $5 million methamphetamine seizure.

A financial exchange business was the cover for a laundering operation, with police today seizing the firm's bank accounts, three firearms, $40,000 in cash and the assets of the company director and finance manager, including a $2 million house and two vehicles.

Detective Inspector Steve Wood of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ (OFCANZ) said "police believe the financial firm has assisted the drug ring to launder money by transferring large amounts of drug money through various accounts, and moving it internationally to disguise its origin."

"We're not going to rest at this point, we intend to disrupt the entire criminal network and we're using a multi-agency approach," Mr Wood said.

"We're working with Customs, Immigration and other government departments to attack this criminal network from all angles."

Mr Wood said today's bust was an important phase of Taskforce Acacia, a year long investigation targeting Asian organised crime.

"These people are in it for the money, the greed. And if we attack the money and the assets that we have here, we shut down criminal networks."

More than $6 million of methamphetamine and the precursor drug ContacNT have been seized, along with 21 firearms and $400,000 in cash over the last year. Sixteen people have been charged with drug-dealing offences.

Six of those arrests and $5 million of the drugs were seized in a bust on Friday last week.

Mr Wood said the criminal network police were dealing with was linked to other networks in China, Taiwan and South Korea.

A new law allowing for the recovery of proceeds from crime was proving very useful in seizing the money and the assets, said Mr Wood.

OFCANZ director Malcolm Burgess said the latest raids "sent a pretty clear message to crime networks in New Zealand. We are coming after you and we are not done until we have taken the money, assets and any other benefit you derive from crime."

- with NZPA