A Wellington chiropractor who was one of the leaders of a drug importing ring has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.
Anthony Close was sentenced in the Wellington District Court on Friday on nine charges of importing the class B controlled drug GBL, also known as Fantasy.
The 30-year-old and another man arranged several importations of the drug between April 2008 and June last year.
The packages had a total street value of between $600,000 and $1.5 million.
Close's lawyer Christopher Stevenson told the court his client was not motivated by rampant avarice, but wished to get himself out of a financial hole.
Mr Stevenson said that had cost him his relationship, his registration as a chiropractor and will also lead to a review of his residency.
However, Judge Denys Barry said the offending was at the top end of commercial drug dealing and must be judged accordingly, though Close was not involved in actually selling the drug.
