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20 times more meth seized at the border in the past 3 years

Author
NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Tue, 28 Feb 2017, 11:22AM
One lot of meth seized last year. 40kg seized by Customs and Police (Supplied).
One lot of meth seized last year. 40kg seized by Customs and Police (Supplied).

20 times more meth seized at the border in the past 3 years

Author
NZ Newswire,
Publish Date
Tue, 28 Feb 2017, 11:22AM

UPDATED 12.27PM: Customs says a year of record drug hauls has kept more than a billion dollars of methamphetamine off the streets.

The border agency has unveiled fresh figures for just how many drugs were intercepted last year.

Staff came across 1.8 billion tonnes and 51 litres of drugs or their pre-cursors.

MDMA, cannabis, and LSD were among the most common things nabbed after meth and its pre-cursors.

Spokesman Bruce Berry says there isn't a "silver bullet that will stop this problem."

"There needs to be a range of initiatives, and I really applaud the government's approach to looking at both ends of the spectrum - stopping people from getting into it, stopping people at the border, and also dealing with the effects of addiction."

Berry relates that drugs brought online is on the rise, with mail seizures up by 70 percent.

"I would like to think with the results we get, we're getting more than we're missing," he said.

"While there's a demand, there will always be drugs and the people will continue to try."

"The criminal enterprises we're dealing with are very smart, they try their best to beat us."

Customs last year also seized 1.1 tonnes of meth precursor ingredients, which could have yielded 809kg of the drug.

SEIZURES:
2016: 413kg of meth
2015: 283kg
2014: 82kg
2013: 21kg.

 

 

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