An up-and-coming artist who has exhibited in Hawke’s Bay, Taupō and Auckland has been dealing in psychedelic drugs and took police to a place where magic mushrooms grow.
Dali Susanto sold MDMA, LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and cannabis to people he met through his art business, some of whomwould rather buy from him than the gangs who often deal in the illegal trade.
Susanto’s outdoor art is prominent around Hastings, where he lives and works. He has been described as a “real identity in the flourishing Hawke’s Bay arts scene”.
He’s had exhibitions at several Bay galleries and also at the Taupō Museum and in Auckland. Examples of his work have sold for up to $2500.
The Indonesian-born 38-year-old, who moved to New Zealand in 2007, found himself caught up in Operation Mystik, a police investigation into the sale and supply of drugs that ran in Hawke’s Bay between June 2022 and February this year.
Police analysed his phone data and found he was obtaining a range of controlled drugs and selling them to associates, sometimes at his studio or at festivals.
“The quantity of drugs involved could not be determined in every transaction. The full extent of the defendant’s dealing therefore remains unknown,” the Crown said in a summary of facts.
At the end of Operation Mystik, police searched Susanto’s vehicle, home, and art studio, finding 134 tabs of LSD, a container of magic mushrooms, seven containers of baked cannabis cookies, 84 grams of cannabis head and 1 gram of ketamine.
When questioned, he made “full admissions” and took officers to a place where magic mushrooms grew in Hastings.
“The defendant explained the customers preferred buying from him rather than the gangs,” the summary said.
Susanto appeared in the Napier District Court today, where he admitted 10 charges, including supplying MDMA (more commonly known as ecstasy), supplying LSD, supplying cannabis oil, supplying cannabis plant, and supplying magic mushrooms.
He also admitted possessing LSD, magic mushrooms and cannabis for supply, and possessing ketamine for his own use.
The Crown summary said he sold MDMA on at least 17 occasions between August 2022 and January 2024 – a total of at least 58 tablets and 9.5 grams in crystal form.
A tablet of MDMA sells for between $25 and $80. The “rock” or crystal form sells for $100 to $300 a gram.
Between August 2022 and February 2024, he sold cannabis lollies or “gummies” on 24 occasions and cannabis in baked goods twice.
Dali Susanto, who was born in Indonesia and has lived in New Zealand since 2007, alongside one of his murals in Hastings.
He also sold cannabis head and cannabis seedlings.
Between September 2022 and December 2023, Susanto sold at least 50 tabs of LSD in eight transactions. One tab of LSD commonly sells for between $20 and $50.
Between March 2023 and February 2024, Susanto sold magic mushrooms five times. One transaction was for $450, for about an ounce (28 grams).
Following his guilty pleas, Judge Gordon Matenga remanded Susanto, a first-time offender, on bail for sentencing in October.
Susanto is known as the lead artist for a 20m by 4m mural on the Hastings Sports Centre, and for painting street furniture such as power boxes.
In an exhibition at the Hastings Art Gallery in 2021, he painted all the surfaces of one of its rooms, including walls, floor, ceiling and the surfaces of re-purposed furniture.
“Dali’s whimsical energetic personality shines through in this work, emanating his muralist and pop art sensibility,” the gallery said when celebrating the work on its website.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.
