drug bust

A statement said the Ministry of Customs and Revenue and the Ministry of Police Joint K9 Unit and Customs Officers through a joint effort with the Chief Customs Officer from the NZ Police and NZ Customs Pacific Detector Dog Program (PDDP) and Senior Customs Advisor from NZ Customs Service to combat illicit narcotics made a drug bust.

They intercepted 489.8grams of compressed marijuana (hash) at the Post Office.

The inference on the rarity of the illicit drugs in its compressed form found locally further confirms the importation of the illicit drugs from overseas.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Beech", has led to the arrest of 12 people with alleged links to the Mexican drug cartel.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the operation spanned six weeks and involved intensive surveillance and resources.

"This was an opportunity to catch the syndicate - the group of people that were capable of receiving it, landing it and then distributing it across Australia," Commissioner Blanch said.

"The message from the WA Police Force is unchanged … we will come after you, regardless of where you live on this earth."

A shipment of 613 kilograms of the drug - with what police say is a retail value of more than $245 million - was stopped at Auckland Airport last Thursday.

Six people aged between 27 and 36 have been arrested and some have links to the Comancheros motorcycle gang.

Investigators made further enquiries into the intercepted shipment over recent days and search warrants were executed across South Auckland yesterday.

Officers intercepted a truck carrying 55 million methamphetamine tablets and more than 1.5 tonnes of crystal meth, the UN's crime agency said.

The discovery came after police stopped a truck carrying beer crates in Bokeo, which borders Thailand and Myanmar.

The area - known as the Golden Triangle - has a long history of being a major drug-producing hotspot.

Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia regional representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told the BBC it was "by far the largest seizure in the history of East and Southeast Asia".

The drug bust has been described as historical as over 2000grams of marijuana and more than 500grams of methamphetamine imported in two separate shipments from the United States were seized   

A statement said the marijuana were concealed inside seven laundry powder packs and a can of Stax whilst the methamphetamine was concealed inside a box of cereal.

The more than fourteen hour operation took place at the Customs Headquarters at Matautu-tai.

Up to five million dollars' worth of drugs was seized in a major operation targeting the importation of methamphetamine and other drugs into New Zealand.

A New Zealand man has allegedly been operating overseas since 2016, sending drugs to associates back here via multiple countries and using a variety of ways to conceal the drugs.

He was arrested at the border in Italy on February 2.

Police have also arrested six of his alleged associates living in New Zealand after search warrants were carried out throughout the wider Auckland region last week.

In the early hours of Friday morning, Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil and led a team of over 80 police officers in the raids at Faleatiu.

The raid was a result of combined efforts between the Samoa Police Service CID division and INTEL unit in collecting and analysing years of information.

During the operation, a total of 11 people were captured, detained and charged in relation to the raid.

More than 10,000 marijuana plants were collected from 6 different plantations within the area.

Last week, the two main suspects were charged and remanded after a raid on a house on Tahiti's peninsula where they had set up a lab to produce the banned drug.

The five were allegedly also involved in the operation by buying medicines at pharmacies to make methamphetamine.

They were reportedly given some of the drug in return.

The couple at the centre of the operation are in their mid-30s.

If convicted, they could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

They told TV1Samoa that the unnamed man had travelled to Samoa for a family funeral.

A joint Customs and Police dog unit discovered 26.6 grams of the banned drug said to be worth $US26,000 on the streets.

The accused was questioned, arrested and charged with possession soon after he arrived on a Fiji Airways flight from Nadi.

He is now in Police custody awaiting his first court appearance April 30.

The monk was first stopped in Rakhine state with 400,000 tablets in his car.

No value has been placed on the hauls, although in 2015 the UN estimated the retail price of a methamphetamine tablet was about $2 - making the latest consignment worth about $9.2m (£7.3m).

Myanmar has emerged as a top producer of illegal drugs in recent years.

The senior monk, named only as Arsara, was arrested after police discovered the first consignment of tablets in his car as he was driving to the town of Maungdaw bordering Bangladesh.