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Record drugs haul grows as New Zealand police continue investigation

Xinhua, June 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Police investigating New Zealand's biggest ever seizure of methamphetamine said Tuesday the haul had grown in value to almost half a billion New Zealand dollars.

A record 448 kilograms with a street value of 448 million NZ dollars (315.03 million U.S. dollars) was found in the far north of the country on Sunday, the New Zealand Police announced earlier Tuesday.

Police were tipped off by locals in the Northland region of suspicious activity involving men in two vehicles and of an abandoned boat on the remote Ninety Mile Beach on the west of the North Island.

Police eventually stopped both the vehicles and found suitcases and bags containing dozens of plastic zip-lock bags full of methamphetamine.

They arrested three men, aged 31, 26 and 19.

Late Tuesday, police revealed the seizure had grown to 494 kg, with an estimated street value of 494 million NZ dollars (347.38 million U.S. dollars).

The new find was made after police found a handheld GPS device in one of the vehicles.

On examination, they found it contained a set of coordinates, said a Police statement.

A team of officers went to the site of the coordinates, which took them to sand dunes on Ninety Mile Beach, close to where the boat was left abandoned.

They dug into the sand and found another stash of bags full of methamphetamine.

The statement said police had also seized a second boat as part of the operation.

The seizure exceeded the combined amount of methamphetamine seized in New Zealand in 2015, which totaled 334 kg.

Investigations were now underway into where the methamphetamine had come from.

Police and Customs believed the drugs have been retrieved from the waters off Ninety Mile Beach.

Police Minister Judith Collins and Customs Minister Nicky Wagner have congratulated the members of the public and law enforcement officers who were involved in the operation.

"This was the largest seizure in New Zealand's history and demonstrates outstanding investigative work by all involved. It will have an impact on the supply of methamphetamine resulting in less crime and fewer victims," Police Minister Judith Collins said in a statement.

However, the Police Association union has warned the seizure indicated the massive size of the New Zealand market for smuggled methamphetamine, known colloquially as "P."

"P and organized crime go together, and the P problem is evidence of the extent of organised crime activity in New Zealand. Believing that a P problem can be confined to a certain segment of society is folly," Police Association president Greg O'Connor said in a statement.

"Only considerable investment in disruption of organized crime in New Zealand will curtail or help to reduce the prevalence of P and other destructive drugs." Endit