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Record drug seizures during New Zealand summer tourist season

Xinhua, March 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

New Zealand Customs officers almost doubled the amount of methamphetamine and illegal precursor drugs seized at the border over the last southern summer tourist season, Customs Minister Nicky Wagner said Thursday.

The summer season from December to February was the busiest so far for customs, with a record number of travellers crossing the border, Wagner said in a statement.

Customs officers were better able to focus on high-risk travellers, resulting in record seizures of drugs, she said, without giving details.

"Customs seized 855 drug packages compared to 771 last summer. A total of 74 kilograms of (methamphetamine) was seized, plus a quarter tonne of precursors - almost double the amount seized last year," said Wagner.

"Passenger numbers reached record highs with almost 3.38 million passengers passing through international airports over summer, an increase of around 10 percent on last summer," Wagner said.

"Making travel to New Zealand a better experience helps boost economic growth, with international tourist spending increasing by an outstanding 31 percent, to 9.7 billion NZ dollars (6.69 billion U.S. dollars), in the year to December 2015." Endit