Police welcome government funding for anti-methamphetamine initiative

Tuesday, 8 April 2014 - 12:28pm

New Zealand Police welcome the government’s announcement of $1.1 million in funding to establish a new Police Attaché role in Guangdong Province, Southern China.

The Police Attaché will play an integral role in the government’s Methamphetamine Action Plan which was launched in 2009 to combat the use of methamphetamine (P) in New Zealand.

Assistant Police Commissioner Malcolm Burgess said the grant will fund the Guangdong based position for the next two years.

“The new Police Attaché will help law enforcement agencies in both countries stem the tide of illegal narcotics and precursor chemicals coming from China into New Zealand,” Mr Burgess said.

“It is going to be a huge asset to have an operational staff member on the ground in the part of China where a substantial amount of the drugs originate from.”

The new Guangdong based attaché will report to the New Zealand Police liaison officer at the New Zealand embassy in Beijing.

Mr Burgess said that the Beijing based role has been very successful and Police are looking forward to increasing their presence in China.

“The Chinese authorities have been extremely receptive to working together to fight the illegal drug trade,” Mr Burgess said.

“Their cooperation has been instrumental in several recent operations including the termination of Operation Ghost in December which netted the largest haul of ContacNT ever seized in New Zealand.”

Thirty-eight people were arrested during Operation Ghost for offences including importing, supplying and conspiracy to supply ContacNT and methamphetamine.

The 18-month operation yielded 594kg of methamphetamine precursors, several grams of methamphetamine, $1.2 million in cash and assets worth more than $20 million.

ENDS

© Scoop Media