Two men have been given lengthy jail sentences for their part in the country's largest meth bust to date.
Photo: Supplied / Customs
Auckland man Isaiah John Te Hira, 32, and Canadian national The-Hoang Thai, 25, were involved in smuggling 469 kilograms of meth hidden in car parts in 2019.
In August 2019, a sea freight container arrived in Auckland from Bangkok containing car parts in which the drugs were stored.
About 8kg of the drug was placed in 60 different electric motors.
Customs seized the drugs and the men were arrested soon after.
Te Hira was charged with importing and possessing meth for supply, while Thai was charged with possession of meth for supply.
Today in High Court at Auckland, the public gallery was packed with Te Hira's partner, friends and extended family.
Justice Toogood sentenced Te Hira to 16 years imprisonment and Thai to 20 years and six months in jail.
During the sentencing, Justice Toogood called the near half tonne of meth "a virtual mountain of misery" that was capable of ruining lives and families.
He said it was important that New Zealand did not develop a reputation as being soft on meth importation.
Thai arried in New Zealand in 2018 on a visitor visa and had remained illegally in the country since then, Justice Toogood said.
He said Thai came to New Zealand with the pre-meditated intention of selling drugs and said the offending was pre-meditated and calculated.
The-Hoang Thai's defence lawyer, Julie-Anne Kincade, said her client did not have positive adult influences in his life - his father was a refugee from Vietnam and beat his mother, who then in turn beat him.
The court heard she abandoned the family when Thai was 12.
Kincade said her client did no think much of the social consequences of meth until spending time in prison, but his time in jail had revealed the drug's impact.
Isaiah John Te Hira's defence lawyer, Maria Pecotic, said Te Hira's family had written many letters of support saying how much he had changed since he was released on electronic bail head of his sentencing.
She said her client was very vulnerable and easily led by others following a turbulent childhood.
Pecotic said her client's role in the operation was lower down the rungs than others and the sheer volume of drugs that had been imported took him by surprise.
Crown prosecutor, Henry Steele, said Thai provided the international link and had 26kg of meth in his apartment, ready to break down and distribute in New Zealand.
He said while the two men were relatively young, this was not impulsive offending.
