Name suppression has been lifted for four men arrested following New Zealand's largest cocaine bust.
Benjamin Northway, 35, Matthew Scott, 44, Mario Habulin, 45, and Deni Cavallo, 46, appeared before Judge Edwin Paul in the Tauranga District Court today.
They're facing a combined 20 charges including importing, possessing and supplying class A drugs, and being part of an organised crime syndicate.
They were arrested following the seizure of $20m worth of cocaine in Tauranga yesterday.
Judge Paul lifted name suppression for the men and expected pleas to be entered on December 4. He also ordered a German-speaking interpreter to appear on behalf of Cavallo.
A five-month long inquiry by Customs and police uncovered 46kg of the drug at a local address on Wednesday in what was the largest single seizure of the drug in New Zealand.
The two organisations joined forces to carry out investigative work and established that a cocaine shipment would be offloaded from a commercial ship near Tauranga.
It arrived from Chile on October 31, when its alleged the offenders approached the vessel under the cover of darkness, retrieving the drugs from a hidden compartment on the exterior of the hull.
The four men will be remanded in custody until December 4 for a hearing to determine whether the charges will be transferred to Auckland.
- additional reporting Bay of Plenty times
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