"You have to give the community a pat on the back. The police are as good as the community. When the community identifies a problem for us we go to work on that problem.
"That's what happened in this instance," the detective sergeant heading the organised crime investigation, Mike Ryder, said yesterday, when asked by the Otago Daily Times what prompted the operation.
Some of those arrested in Operation Nest, which culminated in searches and arrests in Oamaru, and as far away as Auckland and Whakatane on Tuesday, appeared in the Oamaru District Court yesterday on myriad charges related to the investigation.
Additional charges and further arrests might yet be actioned in the future.
Det Sgt Ryder said Operation Nest was initiated in Oamaru and had been aimed at identifying illegal drug dealers and buyers in the town.
"The aim was to specifically reduce the availability of drugs in Oamaru. I'm confident it has done that," he said.
The Oamaru community was not one that readily accepted the abuse of any form of drugs.
"It was through information from the community that we identified the problem, and we used a variety of techniques to address the problem over more than a year," he said.
In the initial stages of the investigation, police did not know the size of the problem being dealt with.
"Over time, it became apparent it was significant drug-dealing - very significant by Oamaru standards," he said.
At its peak, the operation involved more than 60 police across New Zealand, including deploying undercover agents in Oamaru over recent months. While nine of those arrested were from the town, the investigation spread outside Oamaru to net another four.
An additional arrest was made on charges unrelated to the drugs operation but resulting from evidence turned up during the investigation.
On Tuesday, a large team of police was involved. Yesterday, that team had been reduced and was concentrating efforts on dealing with those who had been arrested.
However, Det Sgt Ryder "certainly anticipated" further arrests because police knew people associated with the drugs ring that had not yet been spoken to.
During searches on Tuesday, police recovered large quantities of drugs, including morphine, ritalin and methadone.
Police yesterday were still tallying up the quantity and possible value of the drugs confiscated in the raids.
