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A Briton has been jailed for his role in an international drug union at the center of one of New Zealand’s largest methamphetamine seizures.
Neil John Wilkinson, 62, was sentenced to 17 years and 6 months in prison by Judge Paul Davison in Auckland High Court on Friday.
He had previously been convicted at the trial for possession of methamphetamine for supply and will have to spend at least seven years in jail.
Wilkinson was arrested in an Auckland apartment after police seized nearly 200 kilograms of methamphetamine as part of a major drug operation called Operation Essex.
The apartment was raided and police found a closet full of plastic containers with methamphetamine inside, valued at $ 27 million.
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Wilkinson’s co-defendant was arrested at Auckland International Airport while attempting to flee the country in August 2019. He was jailed in June.
NZ POLICE / SUPPLIED
Police seized more than 200 kilograms of methamphetamine during Operation Essex.
The Briton arrived in the country in June 2019 from Thailand and told customs that he was in the country on vacation.
“However, instead of coming here on vacation, he was here to participate in the illegal operations of an international drug union that had successfully carried out the importation of some 500 kg of methamphetamine that was awaiting distribution,” said the Judge Davison.
Once he arrived in New Zealand, Wilkinson was transferred to a hotel in the city center and received continuous instructions and living expenses from his co-offenders.
He was then transferred to an apartment in the center of the city to safeguard the 200 kg of methamphetamine.
Wilkinson told a writer of the pre-sentencing report that his life turned “upside down” after his first wife died “tragically” in an accident and he began drinking heavily.
“This had a devastating effect on you,” Judge Davison said.
NZ POLICE / SUPPLIED
The methamphetamine was found in plastic containers.
The defendant then traveled to Thailand in 1990 and lived there for 30 years, where he began a new life and a new family.
“While on vacation in Australia in 2019, he ran into financial difficulties and was introduced to mutual friends, a co-offender,” the judge said.
“At that time, you had sole responsibility to protect drugs … you were playing an essential role in the overall operation,” Judge Davison said.
Crown prosecutor Kirsten Lummis said Wilkinson traveled to New Zealand specifically to participate in the drug operation.
She said he was an “essential cog in the wheel” that was contested by the defense.
Defense attorney Annabel Ives said her client’s role was that of a “babysitter” and far less than that of her co-defendants.
Wilkinson got involved in the union under pressure, or through his own naivety, and received no financial gain, Ives said.
Ives said family and friends are puzzled about how Wilkinson ended up trapped in prison on the other side of the world.
“It’s very out of line,” Ives said.
Judge Davison gave Wilkinson discounts for his previous good character and his family was unable to visit him due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The judge said there could have been $ 240 million worth of social damage to New Zealand and the community if the drugs had been distributed.
Judge Davison said the human cost to people caught with the drug was “immeasurable.”
