Police operation leads to $30 million drug bust in Auckland
Thursday, 14 December 2017
Thirty kilograms of methamphetamine, with a street value of up to $30 million, has been uncovered by police in Auckland.
The Wednesday night bust came as an ongoing part of Operation Sweden, which originally began in Wairarapa.
Five men and one woman were arrested overnight and appeared in court on Thursday.
Two faced charges in relation to the possession of methamphetamine, and the other four faced charges of conspiracy to supply methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine.
READ MORE: Major Wairarapa drug bust one of the region's largest
Four were remanded in custody, and two released on bail.
Acting Wairarapa area commander Inspector Scott Miller said the arrests, in Manukau, Lower Hutt and Masterton, came as the operation broadened out from the lower North Island and went national.
'The arrests came from the operation, but a part of that was looking at a supply of methamphetamine on a national level,' he said.
He said it was the largest seizure a Wellington-based police operation had uncovered.
'We were expecting a good-sized haul, but this is beyond our expectations,' he said.
'It's worth between $20m and $30m, depending on how it's sold.'
Operation Sweden was run by the Wairarapa Criminal Investigation Branch and the Wellington Organised Crime Group.
'The people involved were on the radar before last week's operation,' Miller said.
One person was arrested in Wairarapa with 142g of meth and $3000 in cash. Another was arrested in Wellington with 14g of meth and $40,000, while another was found in Auckland with around 30kg of meth and over $40,000 in cash.
Eighteen people were arrested in Wellington and Wairarapa last week, and large quantities of methamphetamine and property were uncovered.
'At this point Operation Sweden has been completed, but obviously inquiries in Auckland will continue,' Miller said.
'This takes out a major group of methamphetamine dealers that weren't previously known to us.'