Four sentenced for smuggling tobacco, on-selling cigarettes from Gisborne restaurant
Photo:
Supplied / New Zealand Customs
Four people involved in an illegal tobacco importing operation, and who were on-selling cigarettes from a Gisborne restaurant, were sentenced last week at the Gisborne District Court.
A 34-year-old male and 30-year-old male were sentenced to home detention for eight-and-a-half months and seven months respectively. They faced charges of defrauding Customs revenue, possession or custody of uncustomed goods, importing prohibited goods, and the sale of uncustomed goods.
A 61-year-old male and 59-year-old female who played a lesser role in the operation and faced two charges each, were individually fined $10,400 and ordered to pay court costs.
Customs initiated investigations in November 2023, where numerous airmail packages were found to contain significant amounts of undeclared cigarettes and loose tobacco, concealed in Chinese tea packets. There were no import permits for the seized tobacco and cigarettes, and no excise equivalent duties were paid.
Further investigations identified previous similar consignments which had been successfully imported into New Zealand, and which were being sold in a restaurant to its customers.
In March 2024, Customs carried out search warrants in Gisborne, locating a significant amount of cash in a bedroom and in a vehicle parked outside the restaurant, as well as over a kilogram of loose tobacco and 11,000 cigarettes inside the restaurant.
In total, the Customs investigation resulted in the seizure of 306,200 cigarettes and more than 110 kilograms of loose tobacco. Charges were laid against four people for various offences under the Customs and Excise Act 2018.
Acting Chief Customs Officer (Fraud and Prohibition), Bevan Cameron, said the offenders exploited the supply chain for their own gain.
"The offenders arranged to import prohibited goods, deliver them to various addresses in the Gisborne area, and then sell them on.
"The scale of duty-evasion and fraud seen here is significant. But in the end, the cost of this type of offending outweighs any potential monetary gains to be made."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland teacher who abused, photographed girls, had prior indecent act convictions
But the Thursday afternoon sentencing at Manukau District Court wasn't the first time Fisher had been before the courts for committing indecencies. A court document obtained by the Herald reveals that in 2002 he was convicted of three counts of committing an indecent act. Despite these convictions, it appears he was able to pass background checks and gain employment at various schools and teaching providers. It is unclear if his convictions were subject to the Clean Slate scheme. EduExperts, the Crimson-'powered', after-school tutoring brand that Fisher worked under, said it was shocked by the revelations and undertaking an urgent investigation. In a statement provided by a public relations representative, the company said Fisher was a contracted teacher at an independently-owned franchisee with a licence to operate under the EduExperts brand. 'Our understanding is that the contracted teacher had been working at [the independent franchisee] since 2019 and his contract was terminated once police commenced an investigation into his conduct. Timothy Fisher pleaded guilty to 14 charges and was sent to prison after sentencing this week in Manukau District Court. Photo / Sylvie Whinray 'As a nationwide and trusted education provider, EduExperts is disappointed by this case and expresses its sympathy to those impacted by the contracted teacher's conduct. The safety and wellbeing of students is our top priority.' The statement said Fisher held a current practising certificate and the independent franchisee had received a positive reference letter from a school where he formerly worked. Franchisees were required to follow strict recruitment processes, including only hiring registered teachers with current practising certificates from the Teaching Council. Any teacher applying for or renewing their practising certificate was required to undergo a police vet, the statement said. 'EduExperts is conducting its own investigation into this case and working with [the franchisee] to review this in detail. Any further questions relating to the case should be directed to police.' 'You see the face but not the heart' The independent franchise owner, who the Herald cannot name for legal reasons, said she was devastated to learn of Fisher's offending and her heart went out to the victims. She said she bought the franchise in 2019. The previous owners told her Fisher held a current teaching licence, provided the school reference letter and 'said they did all the checks'. She was stunned to learn yesterday that Fisher had previous convictions and that some of the offending had happened at the company's premises. 'We feel shock and sorrow. We trust our teachers ... and try our best to keep an eye on everybody.' She said her company had security cameras and had passed all the footage to police. It had co-operated fully since learning Fisher was under investigation last year and immediately dismissed him as a teacher when alerted. She said Fisher was a 'very good' teacher. Learning he was a child sex offender was difficult to comprehend. 'You see the face but not the heart.' Sexual predator 'knows he does have a problem' At the Thursday hearing, Judge Sacha Nepe sentenced Fisher to four years and five months' imprisonment on 14 charges, which included committing indecent acts on children and making objectionable material. She gave him a 25% discount for his guilty plea, 10% for childhood issues raised in his psychiatric report and 5% for the counselling he had undertaken. Judge Sacha Nepe (right) being sworn in as a new judge by Gisborne Judge Hemi Taumanu in May this year. His lawyer, Tim Blackwell, said Fisher 'knows he does have a problem'. Blackwell sought a discount for remorse and told the court some of his client's comments to report writers had been taken out of context. Prosecutor Kristy Li said Fisher told a report writer he did not feel remorseful because he felt the victims were not 'traumatised' by his offending. Judge Nepe sided with Li: 'I am not prepared, Mr Fisher, to give a discount for remorse. I have looked at the material before me… In my view there was an almost justification for the behaviour.' She uplifted his sentence by two months for his prior offending. A place on the sex offender register was automatic. Details of abuse laid out in court A summary of facts says Fisher taught English at two of the franchisee's branches. The youngest victim was 9 and the oldest 14. Almost all of the indecent offending listed on the document occurred at one campus, with the physical offending occurring in February 2024. Fisher indecently abused the young girls in various ways, including touching their buttocks, lower backs, chest, thigh and groin area over clothing. Timothy Fisher was sentenced to four years and five months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to 14 charges. Photo / Sylvie Whinray He tried to photograph one child's groin area and legs from under her desk while she did schoolwork in an undisclosed location. Eight of the nine victims were offended against physically. Judge Nepe said some of the videos Fisher created were made at an unnamed high school he had worked at. On one occasion, Fisher filmed himself masturbating in an undisclosed location next to two female students who were blindfolded and not aware of his actions. Other footage he captured showed unknown prepubescent girls swimming in a public pool while he pleasured himself from inside a sauna. Another video depicted him recording himself masturbating in a classroom at the high school while nearby students were unaware. In a different clip, he filmed himself masturbating with a child on his lap. He also was found in possession of objectionable material, including of adults abusing children. When spoken to by police, he denied indecently assaulting the students but stated he had 'crossed a line' with the girls and 'got too comfortable'. For his most recent offending, Fisher was charged with seven representative counts of committing an indecent act on a child. Each carries a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment. A representative charge means the offending occurred more than once. Police also laid four attempted intimate visual recording charges and one representative indecent act on a young person charge. In addition, Fisher faced a representative charge for possessing objectionable publications and another representative charge for making an objectionable publication. The maximum term for these charges is 10 and 14 years' imprisonment respectively. Detective Senior Sergeant Martin Bienvenu, Counties Manukau CIB, acknowledged the courage of the young people who came forward to report the offending. Asked if Fisher had been subject to the Clean Slate scheme, Bienvenu said he couldn't comment and referred queries to the Ministry of Justice. A Justice Ministry spokeswoman said convictions were automatically concealed under the scheme if the person was eligible. However, the scheme did not extend to people applying for certain jobs or roles. She said the Children's Act required safety checks for people working with children and the Clean Slate Act did not apply to those safety checks. Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues such as sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020. Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years' experience in the industry. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
19 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Family pay tribute to Bay of Plenty stabbing victim
Police at the scene at Awakeri Hot Springs on Thursday. Photo: Pūkāea A cousin of a woman fatally stabbed in the Bay of Plenty on Thursday says she was a loving mother, daughter, niece, cousin, aunty and friend. Emergency services were called to Awakeri Hot Springs Holiday Park around 4.30pm on Thursday after reports of a serious assault. Despite medical attention, an injured woman died at the scene and a 25-year-old woman was charged with murder. "You were a strong hardworking lady that done everything to provide the best for your babies. You stood staunch for your family would do anything to make sure we were all good. One of the loyalest (sic) family members i ever knew. Rest in eternal love now my cuzin your with your dad, sister and all our loved ones. Forever in our hearts," said the victim's cousin in a statement provided to RNZ. Police remained at the holiday park this morning, and the hot pools part of the facility is closed. Campers remain in the campsite. The executive producer of iwi news provider Pūkāea, Kereama Wright, said local kaumātua led a karakia at the holiday park this morning. He spoke to relations of the Māori landowners who said they were very upset by yesterday's events. "For a long time Awakeri hot pools has been a place for whānau to gather for celebrations, for whānau gatherings, for a little bit of reprieve, so to hear this sort of news happening at such a popular site within the region is sad and speaking to some of the people who are camping there, they are definitely shocked and quite disturbed by what happened," he said. Wright had interviewed campers this morning and said he understood both the victim and the accused had been staying at the campground recently. "We spoke to a couple of the campers who were present when the incident occurred yesterday and they were visibly shaken and still very upset at what they saw and what they experienced," he said. The 25-year-old accused appeared in Whakatane District Court this morning charged with murder and was remanded in custody to reappear in early September.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
'Organised crime is organised. We are not', ministers told
Guns, drugs and cash seized by the police during operations in Christchurch and Auckland in 2023. Photo: Police / supplied A ministerial advisory group is calling for a nationwide information sharing network, or "data lake", along with a new sharing framework to help combat organised crime. The group says government agencies typically avoid the risk of sharing secure data, but a more proactive sharing approach could help target crime groups. They want a tech company to build the new "data lake" - a secure platform that would allow agencies like police and Customs to share the data they already collect with each other, in a usable format. It would automatically reformat encrypted data to make it standardised and usable by enforcement agencies, and would be hosted in a secure government-controlled cloud platform with data partitioned to ensure only those with appropriate clearance could access it. Artificial intelligence could also be used, helping identify patterns across things like financial transactions, travel records, corporate structures, and identity data to potentially help map criminal networks, match people with aliases, and provide real-time alerts. "This architecture can be scalable, privacy-conscious, and legally compliant. It creates a future-proof platform for secure and governed information sharing, enabling agencies to act with a unified view of organised crime," the report said. Ministerial advisory group chair Steve Symon says information needs to get to the right places. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Chair Steve Symon told RNZ most of the data involved was already collected by various government agencies, so it would mostly be a tool to help use that data to find international criminals. "We don't want a situation where we we open up the floodgates of information sharing, but we do want to make sure the information is getting [to] the right places," he said. "Whether that be information by Customs about travel movements or information held by the companies office about companies or how companies have been registered, there's a variety of different pieces of information that are currently held by government agencies. "The idea of the data lake is to bring together those bits of data that might assist with tackling organised crime, and then have some oversight in terms of who can access that data and for what purpose." The group found government agencies typically avoided data sharing, as it was seen as risky - what the report described as an "extreme level of risk aversion" - but this needed to be changed to keep up with organised crime making more use of technological advances. "Organised crime is organised. We are not," the report said. The group had looked at potential costs of getting a data lake set up, he said, but that was all subject to commercial sensitivities and he refused to give an estimate. "There have been discussions and we have been aware of an approach that might be made, but we can't discuss it because, of course, we don't want to prejudice the outcome of those discussions. "It is a difficult one for me to answer without prejudicing the communications that the government would have to have with a provider like Microsoft." He said the decision on whether to proceed given the potential cost would be made by the government. A 150 kilogram haul of cocaine seized by Customs in Tauranga last month. Photo: Customs NZ/Supplied He said the group wanted to strike a balance between privacy and the rise of organised crime in New Zealand, which it had highlighted in another report in March - pointing to rising drug use showing up in wastewater testing and increasing levels of cyber fraud. The group also wanted more cooperation with other countries - particularly Pacific Islands - and with businesses like airports, ports, banks and telecommunications companies for tracking things like fraud and drug smuggling. Symon said he saw first-hand the extent of the drug problems affecting Fiji a couple of weeks ago on a trip with Associate Police Minister Casey Costello. "A lot of those drugs are destined for New Zealand or Australia ... there is a lot of information, a lot of data we could use and work with them to share, to help them in their fight which wouldn't be a significant privacy concern for New Zealanders." The group also suggested government agencies working more closely with the private sector - businesses - in specific high-risk areas - like an airport having problems with baggage handlers . He said in that example, information shared between the airport, the private businesses working within the airport, and enforcement authorities could identify things like when staff had called in sick but their access cards were still being used. "We see it in border areas such as airports, our sea ports, we also see it in high-risk in industries such as banks and telcos in the respect that they hold critical data which would be relevant to the fight against organised crime." The report noted that businesses wanted to be involved, and would benefit from being able to avoid effects of organised crime, like fraud. "That is the carrot ... there also needs to be a stick - a legislative mechanism for requiring the less than willing segment of the private sector to come to the table." The group suggested making the failure to report certain suspicious activities to the police commissioner an offence. Other suggestions for cooperating with businesses included creating dedicated liaison roles within Customs, police and other relevant agencies to deal with the groups involved in the data sharing, as well as encouraging the establishment of organised crime prevention roles within businesses themselves. Another option would be an "organised crime supply chain rating system" which would rate and accredit businesses based on their organised crime resilience and information sharing maturity, to encourage good behaviour. A haul of more than three tonnes of cocaine intercepted from a vessel in the Pacific Ocean in 2023. Photo: NZ Police / Supplied Symon said the aim would be to ensure zero data breaches. "We're not naive. There have been occasions where for example police officers have accessed [data] for inappropriate reasons and those have been publicised and dealt with, but what we are talking about here is data held by enforcement agencies. "The benefit of a data lake would be that you would have that information held in one repository, and you could have controls and information about who accesses that data and when, and have a electronic paper trail." He acknowledged there were risks with sharing sensitive data with an AI tool, but said the options for protecting that data would need to be examined in commercial negotiations. The report also called for a minor legislative change to the Privacy Act which would aim to simplify the process of information sharing between agencies. It would mean that when information was shared for the purposes of tackling organised crime, the agency requesting the data would be held responsible, rather than the agency providing the data. "This would simplify the process, ensure that the relevant belief is held by a person who holds sufficient information to make that belief properly informed and it would transfer the privacy risk from the provider to the requestor (usually an enforcement agency)," it said. If the model proved workable and valuable, however, it could be expanded. "If there is success with that sharing, and we can show the public and the gain public confidence in the way we're approaching it, then it's certainly something where you could explore going further," Symon said. The report highlighted a plan to also set up a new legal framework to help support more data sharing. "Under current settings, there is no clear and transparent framework that authorises the sharing of sensitive information with private sector partners," the report said. "For example, in the border security space, there is no clear and transparent framework that enables the two-way sharing of sensitive information between Customs and private sector partners such as operators of Customs Controlled Areas and other supply chain partners." The framework would: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
