Our Navy, spies and police will be sent out to hunt drug-smuggling routes from Central America and South America as part of a bold new Government strike against the syndicates flooding the country with methamphetamine.
Missions deep into the Pacific will link together police, Navy, Customs and the digital spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), as part of a multi-pronged, multi-agency pushback against soaring methamphetamine use.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith today announced a “bold and comprehensive action plan” that aimed to disrupt supply, go after those who profited from the drug trade and rebuild communities afflicted by meth.
“Meth is a scourge on our society. Consumption doubled last year and ultimately, increased meth use fuels organised crime and destroys lives.”
Goldsmith was joined by Associate Police and Customs Minister Casey Costello, Associate Police Minister Nicole McKee and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey – each linked to the Government’s wider effort to tackle organised crime and meth-related harm through policing, border security and addiction services.
Costello said the plan demanded more of what agencies were already doing, with greater co-operation and impact.
“We know what works. But we know we can do better and do more.”
The Government’s plan marks a shift to a more assertive, outward-facing campaign against organised crime, linking the New Zealand Defence Force, Customs, police and intelligence agencies to disrupt the drug trade before it reaches New Zealand’s shores.
Customs, Defence and the GCSB will run a series of maritime operations across the Pacific – partnering to collect intelligence and identify drug-smuggling ventures on the water – to find, deter and disrupt shipments before they reach New Zealand.
The focus is the corridor from Central and South America into the South Pacific, where traffickers have used small island states as refuelling and staging points.
The more aggressive stance was supported by plans to strengthen search and surveillance powers, expand electronic interception and speed up asset seizures under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.
There will also be a new police money-laundering team to chase the cash behind organised crime and additional offshore liaison officers targeting the syndicates’ logistics and banking networks.
Domestically, ministers have ordered consultation on tighter port-security checks following warnings about “insider threats” – staff who can be corrupted or coerced to shift cargo undetected.
The plan puts $30 million out of the mental health and addiction budget over four years into treatment and early intervention services in communities hit hardest by meth and a $5.9m national prevention campaign paid for with the seized proceeds of crime.
The announcement follows a sharp rise in drug harm, with wastewater testing showing meth use roughly doubled between 2023 and 2024. Officials estimated the social harm from meth and other illicit drugs at $1.5 billion in 2024.
The Government responded with the appointment earlier this year of an expert Ministerial Advisory Group to Costello, the Associate Police Minister and Customs Minister, tasked with advising on how New Zealand’s security agencies could better co-ordinate and respond to organised crime.
The group’s recent report carried many recommendations picked up in Goldsmith’s announcement today, such as maritime patrols targeting traffickers, greater powers to go after the proceeds of crime and new laws expanding police electronic surveillance capabilities.
But it also didn’t go as far as the group recommended, with Goldsmith making no reference to the suggested creation of a Minister for Organised Crime or of a multi-agency board that would oversee the fight against organised crime.
Information-sharing was also not addressed, along with the recommendation to end cash work payments or the development of a national data platform or performance dashboard.
The aim of co-ordinating defence assets, the GCSB and domestic law-enforcement agencies with a shared strategic direction in the Pacific seeks to use intelligence, surveillance and maritime reach to intercept networks that now stretch from Myanmar and Malaysia to Mexico and Chile.
The advisory group warned the Pacific has become a key trans-shipment hub and gateway for cartels moving meth and cocaine into New Zealand.
In March, the advisory group said “New Zealand is losing the fight” against organised crime.
Despite record seizures, the group found meth use climbing and syndicates embedding more deeply across sectors from ports to financial services. Its members – drawn from policing, intelligence and regulatory backgrounds – said the system was fragmented, slow and lacking accountability.
The social response – $30m over four years - works out at about $7.5m a year against annual harms exceeding a billion.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.