More than half a tonne of methamphetamine has been seized in one of New Zealand’s largest importations of the drug. 

A joint investigation by police and Customs, Operation Girder, discovered 515kg of meth inside a shipment of steel beams shipped by sea from the United States last month. 

Customs analysts flagged the shipment for inspection in September which uncovered “inconsistencies” in some of the 42 steel beams, which led to the consignment being x-rayed and finding the meth. 

The investigation expanded to include the National Organised Crime Group [NOCG] and the operation conducted a “controlled delivery” of the steel beams, in an attempt to identify the network behind the importation. 

The consignment was tracked to a rural Waikato address which was raided on Friday and led to five men appearing in the Auckland District Court on drug import and supply charges. 

One was charged with unlawful possession of firearms after a military-style semi automatic rifle and ammunition were recovered. 

Two other men had flown in from Australia and were in the process of “deconstructing” the steel beams when they were arrested, according to police. 

Detective Inspector Colin Parmenter said the seizure is a serious disruption to the wider drug market operating within New Zealand. 

“The significant amount seized in this operation is another demonstration of the Police and Customs partnership and commitment to the disruption and dismantling of transnational organised drug networks. 

“It’s estimated that this shipment would have gone on to produce 25.7 million individual doses of this destructive drug, and preventing this harm is a key motivation for our staff.” 

The investigation was ongoing and Parmenter did not rule out making further arrests. 

Police would continue to focus on organised criminal groups looking to profit from commercial drug offending, Parmenter said. 

The seizure of 515kg of meth was also hailed as a win for Customs. 

“Customs’ intelligence gathering and targeting have played a critical role in detecting this smuggling attempt and identifying people responsible,” said Terry Brown, the Customs group manager in charge of intelligence, investigations and enforcement. 

“The method and scale of this smuggling operation clearly illustrate the amount of efforts organised crime groups are willing to go to but our seizure and the arrests Police have made equally show the skill and determination investigations and enforcement teams will apply to detect, disrupt and dismantle these criminal efforts.” 

The 515kg of methamphetamine seized in Operation Girder is the third-largest importation found at New Zealand’s border and the latest in a disturbing upward trend. 

One of the men arrested in Operation Girder was also charged with the illegal possession of a military-style firearm and ammunition. Photo / NZ Police 

For many years, a kilogram of meth was considered a significant drug bust, and the record of 95kg discovered during Operation Major in 2006 was seen as an outlier. 

But since 2015, New Zealand Police and Customs noticed an upswing in the size of meth shipments, and increasingly cocaine, to the point where 100kg is now almost routine. 

New Zealand is a small drug market, but one of the most lucrative. A kilogram of meth, worth just a few thousand dollars in southeast Asia or Mexico, can command $100,000 to $150,000 here currently. 

These profits attracted the attention of global organised crime groups and led to a radical shift in New Zealand’s criminal landscape. 

The record was smashed by the 501kg smuggled into the country from a “mother ship” off the coast of 90 Mile Beach in Northland in 2016. 

In 2019, there was another police investigation where 500kg was smuggled into Whakatāne and a Customs operation where 469kg was stopped at the border. 

The record was broken again by 613kg smuggled on a flight from Malaysia in February 2022 which was destined for the Comancheros motorcycle gang. Twelve months later, this was dwarfed by the 713kg discovered inside maple syrup bottles from Canada. 

While not stopped at the border, the largest cache of the drug was uncovered after the death of Aiden Sagala, 21, who unwittingly drank liquid methamphetamine from a can of beer. 

Detectives investigating his death raided a warehouse in Manukau filled with 747kg of meth. 

Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.