Customs and Police Need Long Term Support to Maintain Drug Busts

Labour’s Customs Spokesperson Su’a William Sio says that while the NZ Customs Service and the NZ Police are to be congratulated following another successful interception of six kilograms of the Class C drug BZP, these organizations need long term support in protecting our borders and our communities from the narcotics trade.

It has been reported that the items were seized at Auckland Airport and a 38 year old woman has since been arrested by Palmerston North detectives and will appear in court later this week Police have said that the drug bust has a street value of $180,000.

“This bust is obviously credit to the staff of the NZ Customs and Police working together and sharing intelligence with their international peers, but they need long term on-going support from our Government if they are to continue to maintain effective border protection against drug trafficking.

“I worry that the $2 million line by line budget cuts in Customs by this Government will stretch & stress its frontline staff at our borders given the heightened levels of border activities and the increasing need for cross-border intelligence collaboration and the extent organized crime syndicates will go to in order to slip our border control efforts.

“On the other side of the coin, the Government also needs to tell New Zealanders how they intend to protect our communities by restricting public demand for illegal drugs, I haven’t heard anything.

“I hope the Government will notice that it is more crucial than ever to retain and increase frontline Customs staff to continue with the level of successful interceptions, as failure to do so will see illegal drugs slipping past our borders.

ENDS

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