A hairdresser, a kick boxer, and two other men who were part of an Auckland cocaine ring have been sentenced to jail and home detention.
Mobeen Bhikoo, Samuel Montgomery, Benjamin McLellan and Tafa Misipati appeared at the High Court in Auckland today after pleading guilty to charges of possessing and supplying cocaine.
Justice Fitzgerald said some people saw cocaine as an acceptable party drug, but that view had to be dispelled.
She said the drug had a devastating impact on the lives of the men, their families and society in general.
The judge said it was a commercial cocaine ring but acknowledged defence lawyer Ron Mansfield's argument that the men held down jobs and were supplying friends and associates.
She took time off their sentences for personal circumstances and their guilty pleas that came on the morning they were to go on trial.
Bhikoo, a hairdresser, and McLellan have been sentenced to three years and four months in prison while Missipati, a kickboxer, will serve 2 years and 11 months.
Montgomery, who has been through a rehabilitation programme and is now a mentor for others, will serve 8 months home detention so he could continue getting and giving help.