A senior Queenstown police officer expects a "dent" has been made in the supply of drugs in the Queenstown-Lakes and Central Otago areas following a four-month police operation, dubbed Operation Connect.
Nine search warrants were executed on Wednesday, including one each in Christchurch, Wanaka and Roxburgh, and another three yesterday, resulting in the arrest of 12 people, aged from 19 to 42, all facing drug-related charges.
Alleged offenders included three foreign nationals, from France and Chile, whose passports had been seized and now faced deportation, a patched Mongrel Mob member and two women, Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Inglis, of Queenstown, said.
Thirty additional police officers were brought into the area to execute the warrants, which followed the investigation into internet drug-dealing, including on the dark web.
A large variety of drugs had been recovered, having been imported to the area for sale locally, including cocaine, LSD, MDMA, fantasy — commonly known as a date-rape drug — cannabis and methamphetamine, along with about $10,000 in cash.
At one property, police discovered the offender growing cannabis underneath their house.
The total value of the drugs involved in the operation was hard to ascertain, Det Snr Sgt Inglis said.
"We’re aware of imports in the vicinity of $142,000 for one import destined this way, and we’re aware of other imports up to an ounce of cocaine at a time.
"But with the net, they can continue to roll over month by month, so it’s hard to get an exact figure on the amounts."
"We ... started monitoring it and, from that, we were able to dig deeper and find people who were dealing within those sites."
While the dealing was happening across New Zealand, police’s focus was only on Queenstown and the immediate area, Det Snr Sgt Inglis said.
The internet dealing was indicative of a "growing problem", he said.
"Decades ago, we used to have tinny houses — things have become more sophisticated as the internet’s grown, so we’ve moved to this web-based dealing solution, where it’s thought to be anonymous, you can just go on to secure sites and try to order your drugs.
The amount of drugs circulating in the area showed police were not on top of the situation — wastewater tests showed Queenstown was one of the highest consumers of MDMA in New Zealand — "but we’re trying our best to keep up with it".
"[But] I think it’ll slow the supply of drugs into the area for some time."
The majority of those arrested were expected to appear in the Queenstown District Court, while Det Snr Sgt Inglis indicated more arrests may still follow.
The arrests ...
— A 19-year-old man faces nine charges, including importing and supplying class A cocaine and LSD and class B MDMA.
— A 32-year-old man faces charges of importing class C ketamine, supplying class B MDMA and offering to supply class A LSD.
— A 34-year-old man faces charges of possession of class A and C substances.
— A 27-year-old man faces two charges of supplying MDMA.
— A 25-year-old woman faces one charge of supplying MDMA.
— A 30-year-old man was arrested for possession of class A and C substances.
— A 42-year-old man has been charged with possession of cannabis for supply.
— A 26-year-old woman was arrested in Christchurch after failing to stop for police and fleeing in a vehicle, which she then crashed. Police recovered $15,000 from her vehicle. A male passenger in the vehicle was also arrested after what was believed to be methamphetamine was located in the vehicle.
— Two weeks ago, a 24-year-old man was arrested for supplying class A and B substances, as well as cannabis. He has since appeared in court.
