More than 250 kilos of the precursor used to make the drug P have been found, in the largest drug shipment seizure every carried out in New Zealand.

Mosese Laumanu Uele has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.

The 48-year-old owner of freight company Ezi World Cargo had a licence to operate in a Customs Controlled Area.

But police discovered he'd accepted $60,000 to smuggle the drugs, which were stored in safe houses in west Auckland.