A police operation, which ended in the search of a man’s car, bedroom and phone allegedly yielded more than half a million dollars in cash, 11kg of methamphetamine, a gun, ammunition and other controlled drugs.

The Crown says Sunia Mano To’ofohe was responsible for a large-scale drug-dealing operation.

But the defence says To’ofohe was the victim of appalling police procedures and there were serious shortcomings with the way police handled the drugs.

Opening its case in the High Court at Wellington, Crown prosecutor Lee van der Lem told the jury police stopped To’ofohe’s car in May 2023 as he drove back from Auckland to Wellington.

Unbeknown to the 45-year-old, police had been watching his movements as part of what was known as Operation Elusive.

Inside the car police allegedly found 29g of methamphetamine, 5.9g of cocaine, 23 Oxycodone pills and almost $126,000 in cash.

Later that evening during a search of To’ofohe’s room at his Lower Hutt flat, police also claim to have found about 11kg of methamphetamine, spread across a number of different containers and packages.

The court heard the room was so crammed with items, the search took all night, with extra staff brought in to help.

The Crown says that during the search police also found 26 tabs of LSD, 80 more Oxycodone pills, 580ml of fantasy or GBL, 140ml of another controlled drug known as 1-4 Butanediol and 200g of cannabis. They also allegedly found a rifle, ammunition and a further $547,000 in cash.

Despite refusing to give police the code to access his cellphone, on the phone police later found images of an estimated 14.5kg of methamphetamine being weighed out, during February and March 2023.

Van der Lem told the jury police estimated To’ofohe had supplied almost a kilogram of methamphetamine between February and May 2023.

He said To’ofohe had photographed the drug as he weighed it on different dates, showing the weights in the packages.

Screenshots of his messages, allegedly show he had supplied 226g in eight months to one user alone.

The Crown also says To’ofohe was keeping handwritten records of his drug dealing. He even did a stocktake of the methamphetamine in his possession in early 2023, van der Lem said.

As a result of what the police allegedly found in his car, bedroom and home To’ofohe faces 15 charges, including possession of methamphetamine, cocaine, Oxycodone, GBL, LSD and 1-4 Butanediol for supply. He is also charged with possessing cannabis for sale, possession of a firearm and ammunition, two charges of supplying methamphetamine and failing to assist in a search.

To’ofohe denies all charges.

His lawyer, Keith Jefferies, urged the jury to keep an open mind.

In a short statement, he said police procedures had been appalling.

“There are serious difficulties and shortcomings with the chain of custody of the drug exhibits and there’s been inadequate scientific analysis of the drugs.”

He asked the jury to consider whether there had been a proper scientific analysis of the bags of drugs police had seized.

The Crown will call more than 20 witnesses and produce 11 photo booklets during the trial before Justice Cheryl Gwyn. It is expected to continue at least this week.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.