Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 15, 2016 18:07:43 GMT 12
A plane could have been used to drop 500kg of meth in New Zealand waters
TONY WALL AND ALICE PEACOCK
Last updated 16:24, June 15 2016
Family Boats in East Tamaki, Auckland, is the sole distributor of the Assault 890 Hardtop - the first boat found abandoned on Ninety Mile Beach which led police to the record meth haul.
The enormous haul of methamphetamine brought ashore at Northland's 90 Mile Beach could have been dropped by an aircraft.
Ahipara Volunteer Fire Chief and surf lifesaving president Dave Ross said he reported an unusual incident between 11pm and midnight last Wednesday which he believed was linked to the smuggling operation.
Northland Police made the nearly $500 million seizure of methamphetamine in an investigation that started with finding a boat abandoned with mesh bags aboard at 90 Mile Beach.
Bags of meth seized by Northland police.
Police initially said the bust had seized 448kg of the drug, but later found another 50kg buried in the sand.
Ross, who is ex-Air Force, said he heard a twin engined turbo prop aircraft, which was unusual because only twin piston-engined planes flew to Kaitaia and not at that time of night.
A witness photographed this fibreglass boat at Shipwreck Bay on Thursday as five men frantically tried to get it into the sea.
"Turbo props have a completely different sound to guys like me."
Ross went onto his verandah to see if he could see the plane.
"I could hear it but I couldn't see it and then my eyes dropped and here it was less than 500 feet off the water - straight away alarm bells - the minimum altitude you're meant to be at is 1000ft.
A boat which was purchased at $98,000 in cash was abandoned on 90 Mile Beach lead.
"I thought f... That's low what the hell is it doing? I thought it was an aircraft in distress so I phoned it through to Auckland airport because they are the international controllers of the waters off here."
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The control tower said it had no reports of aircraft in trouble, Ross said.
He said the plane was about 1km off the beach when he saw it, heading east towards Kaitaia.
"All I could see was the flashing lights."
Ross said an aircraft of that size could easily have flown from Tonga or Fiji or even Australia - although it would have needed to refuel for the return journey.
He said it wasn't until locals started talking about suspicious activity in the area, including attempts to launch boats last Thursday, that he put two and two together.
Many of the bags seized by police showed signs of exposure to salt water on the outside, leading them to believe a boat was involved.
He said the fact police said there was salt water on the bags of drugs tallied with the load being dropped from an aircraft.
"Half a tonne of that you could fit that into several 200 litre plastic containers with buoyancy - just biff them over the side each with a GPS locator."
He had told police about the sighting but had yet to hear back from them.
In another development, the boat that led police to a record meth haul was sold as part of a $98,000 cash sale from an East Auckland boat dealer in the months leading up to the bust.
Managing director of Family Boats, Peter Carlson, confirmed the boat found by police with the load of meth was sold for cash at their East Auckland store by one of their salesmen to a group of four men.
Carlson said the transaction of $98,000 had been for the boat as well as several accessories purchased at the same time.
One of the men had called ahead to negotiate the price they would pay for the boat.
Police had come into the store on Monday, he said, asking details about the purchase and wanting to look at the store's CCTV footage.
The director said a cash sale of that amount wasn't unusual, though being on the weekend it had meant the money had to be taken into the bank so it wasn't sitting in the till.
"We often get 10, 20 or 30 thousand dollars in cash," he said.
"It's not that uncommon."
Coastguard had called the store on Sunday morning, he said, as they assumed people had been lost off the boat when it was reported it was unmanned on the beach.
Four people have been arrested in relation to the incident. Charges include importing a class A drug and possession for supply.
Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent Virginia Le Bas, national manager for organised crime, said on Wednesday police were looking to establish the full circumstances of the case and were undertaking multiple inquiries.
The investigation was being led by the organised crime team based in Auckland with more than 20 detectives working on the operation.
Police in the Kaitaia and wider Northland area were also involved and some Auckland-based staff had travelled to support them.
"The examinations of the two boats, the Toyota Prado and the campervan in which the meth was found are expected to be completed today, and any exhibits found during this process will be sent for further analysis," Le Bas said.
She thanked those who had provided information and continued to ask people to contact police if they had any other information.
- Stuff
TONY WALL AND ALICE PEACOCK
Last updated 16:24, June 15 2016
Family Boats in East Tamaki, Auckland, is the sole distributor of the Assault 890 Hardtop - the first boat found abandoned on Ninety Mile Beach which led police to the record meth haul.
The enormous haul of methamphetamine brought ashore at Northland's 90 Mile Beach could have been dropped by an aircraft.
Ahipara Volunteer Fire Chief and surf lifesaving president Dave Ross said he reported an unusual incident between 11pm and midnight last Wednesday which he believed was linked to the smuggling operation.
Northland Police made the nearly $500 million seizure of methamphetamine in an investigation that started with finding a boat abandoned with mesh bags aboard at 90 Mile Beach.
Bags of meth seized by Northland police.
Police initially said the bust had seized 448kg of the drug, but later found another 50kg buried in the sand.
Ross, who is ex-Air Force, said he heard a twin engined turbo prop aircraft, which was unusual because only twin piston-engined planes flew to Kaitaia and not at that time of night.
A witness photographed this fibreglass boat at Shipwreck Bay on Thursday as five men frantically tried to get it into the sea.
"Turbo props have a completely different sound to guys like me."
Ross went onto his verandah to see if he could see the plane.
"I could hear it but I couldn't see it and then my eyes dropped and here it was less than 500 feet off the water - straight away alarm bells - the minimum altitude you're meant to be at is 1000ft.
A boat which was purchased at $98,000 in cash was abandoned on 90 Mile Beach lead.
"I thought f... That's low what the hell is it doing? I thought it was an aircraft in distress so I phoned it through to Auckland airport because they are the international controllers of the waters off here."
Ad Feedback
The control tower said it had no reports of aircraft in trouble, Ross said.
He said the plane was about 1km off the beach when he saw it, heading east towards Kaitaia.
"All I could see was the flashing lights."
Ross said an aircraft of that size could easily have flown from Tonga or Fiji or even Australia - although it would have needed to refuel for the return journey.
He said it wasn't until locals started talking about suspicious activity in the area, including attempts to launch boats last Thursday, that he put two and two together.
Many of the bags seized by police showed signs of exposure to salt water on the outside, leading them to believe a boat was involved.
He said the fact police said there was salt water on the bags of drugs tallied with the load being dropped from an aircraft.
"Half a tonne of that you could fit that into several 200 litre plastic containers with buoyancy - just biff them over the side each with a GPS locator."
He had told police about the sighting but had yet to hear back from them.
In another development, the boat that led police to a record meth haul was sold as part of a $98,000 cash sale from an East Auckland boat dealer in the months leading up to the bust.
Managing director of Family Boats, Peter Carlson, confirmed the boat found by police with the load of meth was sold for cash at their East Auckland store by one of their salesmen to a group of four men.
Carlson said the transaction of $98,000 had been for the boat as well as several accessories purchased at the same time.
One of the men had called ahead to negotiate the price they would pay for the boat.
Police had come into the store on Monday, he said, asking details about the purchase and wanting to look at the store's CCTV footage.
The director said a cash sale of that amount wasn't unusual, though being on the weekend it had meant the money had to be taken into the bank so it wasn't sitting in the till.
"We often get 10, 20 or 30 thousand dollars in cash," he said.
"It's not that uncommon."
Coastguard had called the store on Sunday morning, he said, as they assumed people had been lost off the boat when it was reported it was unmanned on the beach.
Four people have been arrested in relation to the incident. Charges include importing a class A drug and possession for supply.
Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent Virginia Le Bas, national manager for organised crime, said on Wednesday police were looking to establish the full circumstances of the case and were undertaking multiple inquiries.
The investigation was being led by the organised crime team based in Auckland with more than 20 detectives working on the operation.
Police in the Kaitaia and wider Northland area were also involved and some Auckland-based staff had travelled to support them.
"The examinations of the two boats, the Toyota Prado and the campervan in which the meth was found are expected to be completed today, and any exhibits found during this process will be sent for further analysis," Le Bas said.
She thanked those who had provided information and continued to ask people to contact police if they had any other information.
- Stuff
