Massive cocaine hauls in NZ ports, Aus waters

NZ Customs officers have made major seizures of cocaine in the ports of Tauranga and Lyttelton in the past two weeks, discovering almost 180 kilograms of the Class A controlled drug.

157 kilograms of cocaine, worth up to NZ$60.9 million, was found in three separate containers at the Port of Tauranga.

Customs NZ said on 4 May, its officers teamed up with Police and Navy to search a container vessel that had arrived at Tauranga from Balboa, Panama. Customs vessel Hawk V monitored the vessel both at anchor and onto its berth at the port, with the Royal New Zealand Navy Dive team undertaking a dive to check the vessels hull for concealments. Customs officers then boarded the vessel for a thorough search.

Several containers onboard were risk-assessed as suspicious, with further x-rays and physical examination leading to the discovery of 129 bricks of cocaine, each weighing up to one kilogram, found within duffel bags inside two of the containers. This amount of cocaine would have been worth up to NZ$50 million on the streets.

Four days earlier, Customs officers based in Tauranga had similarly searched another container vessel from Panama and found 28 bricks of cocaine in the refrigeration compartment of a container.

Although Customs did not identify the vessels, data correlation with PoT shipping movements indicates Maersk Brani and Maersk Willemstadt, both employed on the OC1 service from ECNA, were likely involved.

Customs Manager Maritime Robert Smith has credited these seizures to the ongoing collaboration between law enforcement agencies, notably Police, and Navy, as well as partnerships with the port company and shipping lines that’s paying dividends.

On the South Island, Canterbury Police, Customs NZ and Police’s National Organised Crime Group seized more than 25 kilograms of cocaine, based on information originally received on 29 March about an import through the port of Lyttelton. Search warrants led to the arrest of four men, aged 30-36, from Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga and Auckland.

Customs Acting Investigations Manager Rachael Manning said: “We know that transnational and serious organised crime groups are actively targeting New Zealand to drive up both demand and supply of illegal drugs such as cocaine for maximum profit. They’re using every method possible to exploit any vulnerabilities within international supply chains, whether that’s at seaports, in secure areas or on vessels themselves.”

Last month the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and CustomsNZ unveiled two new state-of-the-art uncrewed vessels, Tahi and Rua - the first of this type of technology, to help combat transnational serious and organised crime.

Built by Sydney-based Ocius Technologies, the USVs were purchased following a successful seven-month trial in 2024 during which a USV played a critical role in an operation to recover a steel box with seven kilograms of cocaine hidden in the hull of a commercial vessel heading to Auckland last April.  

Meanwhile, the NSW Police Marine Area Command, acting on suspicions aroused by the half-million dollar cash purchase of a 13-metre motor cruiser, tracked it along the NSW coast before intercepting it on Friday [9 May] as it returned to South West Rocks after a presumed offshore rendezvous.

The boat was found to be carrying over a tonne of cocaine in 110 blocks, valued at an estimated $623.4 million. Five men were arrested and faced charges in the Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.