TOP STORY: Deadly `rock' already in HB
08.02.2005
Roger Moroney
Hawke's Bay, already reeling from a series of methamphetamine or "P"
busts over the past year, has become an underworld sales target for
what police are warning is an even deadlier drug being peddled by
gangs fronting for international crime lords.
Crystal rock methamphetamine - a destructive and extremely potent
form of "P" - had led to a drug trade insider warning police "you
blokes are going to be picking up the pieces because this stuff is
lethal".
"We have had good information that it is here," Detective Chris
Cahill of Napier CIB said today.
He added that while the drug supply was not constant, it had turned
up in the region from time to time in "good quantities" and was of
major concern, given its potency.
It was also difficult to uncover as users tended to use it almost
immediately after buying it.
Mr Cahill said rock methamphetamine was highly addictive and had the
potential to make a person behave abnormally. "They can be good as
gold one minute but any little thing can set them off," he said.
The result was often violence.
The crystal rock form of the drug, made in Asia, is being supplied
to local gangs by Chinese drug lords, according to the Police
Association magazine, Police News.
The magazine said an investigation - based on interviews with
drug-squad detectives, organised crime officers and gang sources -
revealed organised crime was "on a grand scale" and controlling the
New Zealand drug trade.
It claimed a motorcycle gang had started importing large quantities
of methamphetamine in the form of crystal rock. Police concerns had
already been echoed by drug seizure statistics released late last
year by Tukuituki MP and Minister for Customs, Rick Barker.
Admitting he was worried by the dramatic increase, Mr Barker said
seizures of crystal methamphetamine had increased 16-fold in a year.
In 2003, 862g had been seized. In the nine months to September last
year that figure had ballooned to 13,907 grams.
Police in Hawke's Bay staged a series of drug-busting operations
last year, including one major strike, Operation Attic.
Dozens of arrests were made and "P" labs identified and closed down.
One house in Tamatea, which had been used as a lab, had to be
demolished.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said crystal rock was
similar in appearance to crack cocaine and stronger than "ice",
another term for the crystal form of the drug.
The magazine said the gang had identified the highly addictive
crystal as a way to corner the P-smoking market. The article claimed
legitimate businessmen were controlling some gangs and members had
effectively become "puppets" for multimillionaires.
Gangs were being supplied with motorbikes, nicer homes and
sophisticated surveillance technology in return for their
distribution networks.
Well-organised gangs were doing overseas deals "in much the same way
as The Warehouse does parallel importing of goods", a source told
Police News.
Some police officers estimated only 6 or 7 percent of drug
importations were being seized.
