3 Men Sentenced in New Zealand Over 713 Kg Meth Shipment Hidden in Maple Syrup Bottles From Canada

Three men have been sentenced in the biggest cross-border drug bust of methamphetamine in New Zealand history, coming after more than 713 kilograms of the drug was found hidden inside maple syrup bottles shipped from Vancouver.

The High Court in Auckland, New Zealand, sentenced Wenfu Zhang, 31, to 10 years and 10 months for importing the meth, along with handing seven year sentences to Tayzel Tini and Liam Prasad for acting as “catchers” whose job was to unpack the drug shipment on arrival in New Zealand.

Police records show that two of the men sentenced were born in New Zealand and one was born in China, according to an Oct. 3 email from a New Zealand Police spokesperson to The Epoch Times.

The bust was made in January 2023 by New Zealand customs officials had a street value of CA$203.4 million, according to New Zealand authorities.

“In January, the shipment of maple syrup from Canada was intercepted and found to be concealing nearly three quarters of a tonne of methamphetamine,” New Zealand police stated in a June 2023 press release about the bust. “It was part of a wider shipment of methamphetamine bound for the Australasian market, which saw law enforcement in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada working together and co-ordinating their respective investigations.”

The shipment was distributed among 18 pallets and packed into four-litre maple syrup jugs, according to police, who say the drugs were part of a broader multi-million dollar international drug trafficking operation. The January interception of the methamphetamines was aided by the work of Australian and Canadian authorities.

“Had this shipment been distributed across New Zealand it would have caused immense harm to the vulnerable communities these criminal groups were preying upon,” New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said in the June press release. “We are committed to disrupting and dismantling drug networks identified through a multi-agency, international partnerships approach.”

According to New Zealand Customs Comptroller Christine Stevenson, the nation’s customs is seeing an increasing effort by transnational drug traffickers to move large amounts of illicit substances into New Zealand.

“Our message to transnational organised crime is that we are aware of what they are doing, how they are doing it, and we will use the combined resources of New Zealand Customs and our partner agencies here in New Zealand and around the world to stop them and hit the profits they try to extract from our communities and our economy,” Stevenson said.

On the Canadian side, RCMP said the bust was an example of effective coordination across international borders to stop drug trafficking.

“From initial detection by Canada Border Services Agency, to the sharing of critical intelligence between the RCMP, New Zealand Police, New Zealand Customs, and Australian Federal Police, keeping our communities safe from these illicit and toxic drugs increasingly takes a global effort,” said Insp. Jillian Wellard, acting officer in charge of the B.C. RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime Major Projects team.