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Police have dug up parts of a body, believed to be that of a missing drug dealer nicknamed Granite, at the Wairakei geothermal power station near Taupo.
Granite - Grant Trevor Adams - disappeared in December 2005, aged 29, and police said last month they believed he had
been murdered.
A 49-year-old businessman was last week charged with his murder, and is to make a second court appearance today.
Detectives began hunting for a body at the power station last Thursday, the same day the businessman was arrested in an armed offenders squad raid on a property in Tauranga.
His name was suppressed when he appeared in the Tauranga District Court the same afternoon, so he would have time to tell his relatives and clients of his arrest.
He also faces one charge of manufacturing methamphetamine.
Police gave few details about the remains found yesterday, but Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner said officers were confident they were those of Adams.
"I hope it's his body," he said. "Otherwise we've got another murder."
Mr Turner said officers would continue digging at the power station because not all of the remains had been recovered.
"We're going to continue excavating the body over the next couple of days," he said.
The remains would be examined in Auckland, and formal identification could take several weeks.
Twelve officers from the Taupo criminal investigation bureau and general police unit have been involved in the dig.
Mr Turner would not say what had prompted them to search in that area or how big the area was. But he said it was "a reasonably focused search".
"It was found within the confines of the Wairakei geothermal power station grounds. That's all we'll say at the moment."
Adams was reported missing by his mother in April last year, and police found he had not used his bank account or cellphone since the previous December.
He made and sold methamphetamine, and had gang connections in Auckland, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
During the investigation, criminal sources told police Adams had been killed for ripping off another drug dealer.
Two weeks ago, they offered a $50,000 reward for information on his killer. It has not been claimed.
