Reagan Mano John Heke (40) did not know the drugs, which had been concealed inside computer equipment, had come from overseas meaning he avoided importation charges, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
He was convicted of nine meth-related charges, possessing the class-B drug MDMA as well as three driving charges which stemmed from his attempts to avoid arrest in August 2021.
Heke told Probation in an interview before sentencing that he treated drug-dealing like "a regular job with regular hours", and he told an associate he had no hobbies aside from "chasing money".
His offending even continued after charges had been laid.
Heke was granted electronically monitored bail to the Ahikaa Trust, a rehabilitation facility in Auckland.
In January last year, after spending three months there, the defendant was found with 9g of the class-A drug.
Ahikaa made headlines seven months after his exit when a police raid turned up military-style weapons, bundles of cash and drugs.
Authorities intercepted the imported methamphetamine bound for Dunedin in June 2021 and police were tapping Heke’s phone at the time.
The messages confirmed police’s suspicions of the defendant’s involvement in drug-dealing and the subsequent execution of search warrants added further evidence.
The first, at a property Heke called "one of his safe spots", officers found $20,000 of meth, packaged up in deal bags ready to be sold, and other paraphernalia.
At his home they found a small quantity of drugs as well as electronic scales, ziplock bags, more than $5000 cash and a tick-list (people who owed him money).
There was also 1.3g of meth in Heke’s underwear when he was arrested.
Assisting him in the drug operation was 56-year-old Paul Emmanuel Milligan, who pleaded guilty to three charges.
Court documents described how he was frequently travelling between Dunedin and Christchurch to source methamphetamine.
cellphone data revealed conversations with three people who owed him a total of $20,500, to whom Milligan made "ongoing threats".
Judge Michael Turner outlined the harrowing upbringings both men had experienced.
Milligan had grown up in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
His family had strong links to the IRA, he recalled bombs being assembled at the kitchen table and he said he witnessed people being murdered.
He began using drugs and alcohol at 12 to cope, a report said.
Milligan was sentenced to 10 and a half months’ home detention to be served in Christchurch.
Heke was exposed to family violence and substance abuse when living with his mother, and when he moved in with his father he witnessed drug-dealing and gang ties.
"Those childhood experiences ... set Mr Heke on a course where he later mirrored what he had seen, because for him it was normal behaviour," the judge said.
The defendant said he was motivated to change his life.
