Media Release

8 July 2008
Reveal Drug Importers - Mark

New Zealand First says the best way for the Asian community to fight crime in Auckland is to expose the people among them responsible for flooding New Zealand with methamphetamine.

Law and order spokesperson Ron Mark says the anti-crime protest at the weekend and the flood of anti-crime statements since then miss an essential part of the problem, which is the importation of drugs and the links between the importers and local gangs.

“It is common knowledge that some groups with South China connections have a near-monopoly in importing the ingredients for methamphetamine and they use local gangs to distribute “P” around the suburbs.

“In turn, many local gang members and other criminals target Asian migrants because they know they often carry large amounts of cash and valuables and take them home rather than use banks or safe deposit boxes.”

Mr Mark says he deplores the criminal targeting of any ethnic group and the police, assisted by local communities, must work to stamp it out.

“However, we must strike at the heart of the problem and deal to the criminals that start the chain reaction of violence in the community by creating an epidemic of drug abuse and addicts who turn to crime to feed their habit.

“Figures just released to me indicate that the trickle of methamphetamine precursor intercepted by Customs has grown to a torrent, from just 10,000 tablets seized in 2000 to almost 2.6 million in the 11 months to 31 May 2008.

“To make matters even worse, Customs estimates that it only finds 20 percent of such substances entering the country.

“Most of the ingredients for “P” come into New Zealand from South China and it is almost impossible to do this sort of business there without some local connections.

“New Zealand First is putting an extra thousand police on the streets. We suggest that the Minister and Commissioner of Police deploy as many as possible in Auckland to target the drug importers,” said Mr Mark.

ENDS

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