No silver lining to man's attempt to smuggle cocaine into Auckland
The 29-year-old arrived at the airport from Santiago, Chile, on July 27, 2024.
Customs officers noticed inconsistencies during an x-ray of the man's luggage, leading to the discovery of approximately 2kg of cocaine – worth approximately $900,000 – concealed within the lining of both cases, Customs New Zealand said on social media.
A suitcase concealing 2kg of cocaine. (Source: NZ Customs )
The passenger appeared in the Manukau District Court on May 23, 2025, where he was convicted of importing the Class A controlled drug.
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'What this sentencing shows that it doesn't matter if you attempt to bring in small or large quantities of drugs into New Zealand. When you are caught, you will get a hefty punishment. It's just not worth it," chief Customs officer compliance and enforcement, Ben Wells, said.
Anyone with suspicions about possible drug smuggling could contact Customs confidentially on 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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RNZ News
5 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Combating organised crime: Call for government and businesses to pool data
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.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Young drug dealer Rowan Hewitson imported up to $6 million worth of ketamine, MDMA
The drug packages were intercepted in a joint investigation between the police and Customs called Operation Reheat, the summary of facts said. Between August 2022 and November 2023 Hewitson imported 36 packages - addressed to fake people at locations near his home - containing 13.7kg of ketamine. Of those packages, 20 were intercepted by police. Most of the packages were declared as being some variation of a 'deep heat warming belt for pain relief', and a handful of others were declared to be baby food or other miscellaneous items. On one occasion Hewitson arrived at one of the houses and asked an occupant if his package had been wrongly delivered to her property. She refused to hand it over as it was addressed to a female, and she recognised Hewitson from previous incidents where he said his package had been delivered to her house. 'The defendant pleaded with the occupants to hand over his package. An occupant took a photograph of the defendant and threatened to call the police if he did not leave. Eventually, the defendant left, and the occupants reported the incident to police,' the summary said. Rowan Hewitson was sentenced to home detention in the Wellington District Court today. Ketamine typically retails between $150-$400 per gram with the most common prices found in the $200-$300 per gram range. The estimated street value of the imported ketamine ranged from $2.2-5.88 million if sold by the gram, the summary said. The MDMA had an estimated street value of nearly $150,000. The summary also described an incident where Hewitson sold a 200-tab sheet of LSD to someone in Wellington, and detailed an attempt to sell more. Police executed a search warrant at Hewitson's Wilton home, smashing their way through a glass front door when he refused to allow officers inside. While they were forcing their way in, he flushed ketamine down the toilet. During the search of that home and the Waikanae property, police found $73,000 in cash. In court today, Judge Kelly referred to the pre-sentence report, in which Hewitson told probation staff he was suffering from mental health challenges during the Covid lockdowns and had turned to online gaming as a coping mechanism. 'Through these online interactions you became aware of an app called Discord where you began ordering drugs from,' the judge said. 'You said you were an introvert and you were isolating yourself in your bedroom, which allowed you to use drugs daily for approximately two years with no concerns.' He said he was taking three doses of ketamine a day at the peak of his addiction. His addiction fed the offending, but the money he was making began to be a driver as well. Since his arrest, Hewitson has taken part in rehabilitative programmes and counselling, and has said he plans to engage with Narcotics Anonymous. He told probation he was committed to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and has been working towards personal trainer qualifications. He has also completed voluntary community service. Police and Customs intercepted 20 of the 36 imported packages. Judge Kelly said Hewitson had expressed gratitude for his stable upbringing, opportunities and access to quality education. 'Unlike many, many people who appear before me, you did not experience any abuse, physical or sexual, as a child, or other systemic causes of offending, such as being brought up in a gang-related family or in poverty. To the contrary, you had many advantages. 'I do, however, accept that the separation of your parents had some impact and through your teenage years you were isolated and you say you were bullied and isolated within the school environment. You say as a coping mechanism you turned to drugs as well as other escapist behaviour.' A psychologist's report suggested the drug dealing may have made Hewitson feel useful to his peer group and increased his social connections. The benefits of the offending, including 'extensive financial gain', would have helped him ignore the risks of his actions. Judge Kelly adopted a starting sentencing point of five years and five months. Defence lawyer Marie Dyhrberg, KC, proposed discounts for his guilty plea, youth, remorse and attempts to make amends, previous good character, rehabilitative efforts, and personal background factors. Her suggested discounts amounted to 85% of the total sentence. Judge Kelly did not agree with some of the suggested discounts, instead reducing them to 65% total, leaving a substitute of home detention available. 'I am persuaded by a very fine margin that a sentence of home detention could meet the purposes of denunciation and deterrence, which in my view are required, given your very serious offending, as well as addressing your rehabilitation and reintegration,' she said. She sentenced him to 10 months of home detention and 200 hours of community work. Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Kilo of Singapore meth shipped to Dunedin boarding house
An Australian deportee has been jailed for four and a-half years after a kilogram of meth was shipped to Dunedin from Singapore. Grant Jeffrey Beale, 58, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week after pleading guilty to importing the class-A drug, supplying it and offering to supply. It was not as though the 501 deportee was the kingpin of the operation, funding a lifestyle of luxury — he had been living in a boarding house and stood to make only $10,000 from the "risky" enterprise. While the drug consignment landed in Dunedin on July 12 last year, the collapse of the illicit operation began six days earlier. That day, Customs intercepted a 13kg package destined for Auckland, listed as containing "halle bone curette fiber handle", seemingly orthopaedic surgical instruments. But once the parcel was opened, officers discovered nearly 2kg of methamphetamine. The drug haul then led them to Beale. Customs records showed a near-identical package had been delivered to a Dunedin address on July 12 last year. It had the same gross weight, supplier, contact number and consignment description as the Auckland one. Inquiries revealed the parcel had been sent to a Dunedin backpackers, addressed to "Marcell Cogan" — a fictitious name. Behind the scenes, Beale had arranged for another man to be paid $5000 to retrieve the meth, which had a street value of up to $500,000. Court documents noted the defendant was receiving orders from those higher up the chain and was not involved in organising the shipment. He also had nothing to do with the Auckland incident. Beale's intercepted cellphone messages revealed what happened in the following weeks. He told an associate the "gear is fine not chunky" before asking him to delete their correspondence. Much of Beale's subsequent communications were shrouded in a thinly veiled code language, discussing "3 quarter drive 21mm". "I'll send car to same mechanic as last time yes I think they done good job," he wrote. While it was obvious to police that Beale was referencing three-quarters of an ounce of meth (21g), it was evidently too cryptic for his counterpart. "You lost me mate? Don't think that message was for me," the man wrote. Beale later received texts from another party, speaking about half a ton of "wood". The following day, though, the charade was dropped as the drug buyer criticised the quality of the supposed timber. "It's orange," the customer sent. "My pipes all black at bottom ... wheres the good dry rock we got at start." (sic) Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner stressed Beale's role was "effectively operational than managerial" and was motivated by his addiction. The defendant had a background of trauma and deprivation, though he had had periods of steady employment through his life. "Negative impacts have kept coming back to haunt him as the years have gone on," Ms Saunderson-Warner said. Judge David Robinson noted Beale had no previous New Zealand convictions but was deported from Australia after being charged with possessing dangerous drugs. The 52-year-old man tasked with collecting the methamphetamine will appear in court in November.
