Three men who appeared in Tauranga District Court this afternoon in relation to the theft of hundreds of litres of an ingredient used in making P have been bailed until early March.
No pleas have been entered.
One of the trio, Kerry Kaikohe Kakau, 34, was arrested last month on a single count of burglary.
A second burglary charge was laid today, and he faces new accusations of conspiring to possess hypophosphorous acid, capable of being used to manufacture methamphetamine (commonly known as P) and conspiring to manufacture the Class A controlled drug.
Terence Rangihouhiri Tata, 35, was also up before Judge Louis Bidois today on two identical burglary and two conspiracy charges, as was Richard Te Rariki Taingahue, 34.
Taingahue admitted three further counts, all summary matters.
He pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine, cannabis and a pipe for smoking P.
Prosecuting, Sergeant Mark Graham said Taingahue was found today at a Tauranga address with four (cannabis) tinnies and a glass pipe.
In his bag, police discovered half a gram of methamphetamine. He admitted smoking the drug at the weekend.
Judge Bidois imposed fines of $600 for possessing P and $300 each for having cannabis and the pipe.
Police opposed bailing Taingahue until the pre-depositions hearing on March 5 for the more serious indictable charges.
Mr Graham wanted a bail condition stipulating that the defendant stay on Rangiwaea Island in Tauranga Harbour, where he lived during the week working on an orchard.
But lawyer Glenn Dixon said it was "entirely unreasonable" to confine his client to the island when he normally spent his weekends in Tauranga.
The court proceedings were likely to be "going on for a year", Mr Dixon said.
He told the judge that the lesser charges, to which Taingahue had pleaded guilty and been fined on, came out of police investigations into other matters.
Judge Bidois allowed bail without a ban on Taingahue living on the mainland at weekends, but ordered he have no association with the co-accused.
Conditions of bail for Tata and Kakau also contained non-association, curfew and residential clauses.
Police allege that a one tonne container of hypophosphorous, a highly toxic liquid, was stolen from a Mt Maunganui factory overnight on January 10.
Two burglaries of the same premises took place - one that night and the other between December 24 and December 27, according to charge sheets produced in court this afternoon.
Conspiracies to possess hypophosphorous acid and to manufacture methamphetamine are alleged to have happened between December 20 last year and January 20 this year.
After the second break-in, when a forklift on the premises was allegedly borrowed to put the plastic container of acid on to the back of a vehicle, police said the liquid chemical was known to be used in the manufacture of pure methamphetamine.
Enough was stolen to make, if combined with other ingredients, millions of dollars worth of P.
Further arrests have not been discounted.
