Whanganui man admits using social media for the sale and supply of narcotics

Whanganui man Jeremiah Peipi has pleaded guilty to offering and supplying party drug MDMA as well as being an accessory after the fact to importing the class B narcotic. Photo / File

A Whanganui man has admitted using social media for the sale and supply of class A and class B narcotics.

Jeremiah Peipi appeared before Judge Jonathan Krebs in the Whanganui District Court on Monday for a jury trial, facing three drug charges.

The 27-year-old entered guilty pleas to one charge each of supplying class A drug LSD, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and supplying class B drug MDMA, which has a maximum penalty of 14 years' jail.

Peipi pleaded not guilty to a charge of importing MDMA but, on Tuesday morning before the trial began, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of being an accessory after the fact of importing MDMA, which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

The Crown summary of facts states on August 4, 2020, Customs intercepted a package from France addressed to Peipi which contained a vacuum sealed bag of cream crystalline substance.

After weighing and testing the contents it was discovered to contain 54 grams of MDMA, with an approximate street value of $10,800.

Peipi acknowledged he was aware the package was coming and admitted he had agreed to tell a co-offender when it arrived at his house.

Police searched Peipi's house on October 16, 2020, and seized his cellphone.

A Facebook messenger app showed Peipi and his co-offender had been offering to sell the drugs to contacts.

The LSD was referred to as "trips" while the MDMA was also called MD and caps and was being sold in grams, half grams or 0.1 gram caps.

In a seven-day period, October 9 to 15, 2020, the pair offered or supplied 5 grams of MDMA, with a street value of $1280, and two tabs of LSD valued at $80.

Police seized a second cellphone belonging to Peipi when he was arrested on February 15, 2021.

He unlocked the phone for officers and further offers to supply MDMA were discovered.

Judge Krebs convicted Peipi on his guilty pleas and remanded him, on bail, to reappear for sentencing on May 24.

The charge of importing MDMA will be withdrawn at Peipi's sentencing.