Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Meth import syndicate busted

Updated at 9:56 pm on 26 February 2013

Police say their investigation into a methamphetamine importing syndicate in New Zealand and Canada led them to a large-scale cannabis operation.

The Organised Financial Crime Agency has helped bust the syndicate which ran cannabis-growing houses in Auckland.

The investigation began after Canadian authorities seized two shipments of methamphetamine also known as the drug 'P' destined for New Zealand and concealed in a consignment of shock absorbers.

Detective Inspector Bruce Good said inquiries led police to five houses on Auckland's North Shore rented purely to grow marijuana on a bulk scale.

Eleven people have been arrested since the operation began in December last year and $NZ90,000 in cash and and 600 cannabis plants seized.

In Canada, a person was arrested and charged in connection with two seizures which had an estimated street value of $NZ7 million.

Listen to Checkpoint interview with Bruce Good

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