/ 7 October 2003

SA man caught with a pile of cocaine in New Zealand

A South African man has been caught with seven kilogrammes of cocaine — the second largest amount ever seized in New Zealand — at Auckland International Airport, customs officials said on Tuesday.

The cocaine was found on September 26 in the false sides of a suitcase being carried through customs by a 40-year-old South African who was travelling on what authorities believed was a fake British passport, officials said.

The man arrived in New Zealand on a flight from Santiago, Chile, customs drug investigations manager Simon Williamson said.

Officials believe the cocaine, worth 6-million to 10-million New Zealand dollars (US$3,4-million to 6-million) in New Zealand, was bound for Australia.

Williamson said the man’s travel documents aroused suspicion and an X-ray of his suitcase revealed ”discrepancies.”

”Customs officers literally had to cut the suitcase apart to remove the cocaine,” Williamson said.

Police said they also arrested and charged a 44-year-old Israeli-born man living in Australia who was on the same flight.

The South African appeared in Auckland District Court on September 29 and pleaded guilty to a charge of importing cocaine. He is to be sentenced in the High Court on November 13, officials said.

The other man is in custody pending a court hearing and has yet to enter a plea, officials said.

The nation’s largest cocaine seizure was in February 1988, when 20 kilogrammes of the drug were found at Auckland’s seaport on a cargo ship which arrived from South America. – Sapa-AFP