One of the Auckland men linked to last month's drug operation carried out by police in Queenstown appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday and will reappear again next month.
Fletcher Craig Andrew Butler (34) appeared in court on five charges of supply and administration of the class A drugs methamphetamine and amphetamine, one charge of producing and manufacturing them and one charge of conspiring to deal them.
The Auckland District Court told the Otago Daily Times Butler had not entered a plea and would be back for a post-committal conference on June 18.
Butler was arrested at the Auckland SkyCity casino a week after the five initial arrests last month.
Police and a clandestine laboratory squad had been looking for him in relation to a meth lab in Mt Wellington.
He, along with five others, was arrested as a result of the five-month police effort "Operation Moses" during which police seized methamphetamine with an estimated street value of tens of thousands of dollars they said was destined to be sold on Queenstown's streets.
Queenstown tattooists Richard Allen (31) and Adam Bamford (31), Queenstown resident Hayden Smith (31), a 26-year-old Queenstown female and Stephen Ron van Engelen (34), of Auckland, were arrested on April 12.
A total of 20 Invercargill and Queenstown police were involved in Operation Moses.
Most of the charges relate to incidents which occurred between January 5 and April 12.
