Police check 'P' incident

Police are investigating allegations that a man was stabbed at an East Coast marae at the weekend in revenge for duping his attackers into buying salt which they believed to be pure methamphetamine (P).

The 38-year-old was stabbed in the hand, severing an artery, after a confrontation with a 44-year-old man and his 17-year-old son at Nuhaka Marae, 31km east of Wairoa.

Sergeant Aubrey Ormond said the incident was the result of a bad drug deal, but inquiries were continuing whether the victim sold P, which was actually salt.