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New Zealand Police / Supplied
Police seized MDMA, cash and firearms in Operation Cincinnati.
Several people will appear in an Auckland court facing a series of charges in relation to the importation, production and supply of illegal drugs, including MDMA.
On Thursday, police said 26 people had been arrested as part of a major police operation called Operation Cincinnati.
Seventeen people have been charged with participating in a criminal group organized between January 2019 and October 2020 for trafficking in controlled drugs and with the aim of obtaining material benefits.
Experts say that MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy, is fast becoming one of New Zealand’s most popular illicit drugs.
READ MORE:
* Police arrest 26 people in connection with importing and supplying MDMA in Auckland.
* MDMA use skyrockets in South Island student communities
* Methamphetamine use nationwide fell by nearly a third during and after the lockdown
According to court documents obtained by Stuff, one of the defendants is accused of offending jointly with others by having four kilograms of MDMA for supply.
More than 100 police officers carried out search warrants at 34 properties across Auckland, police said.
As part of the operation, a large number of drugs were immobilized, including methamphetamine, MDMA along with commercial-grade drug manufacturing equipment, illegal firearms and millions of dollars in assets, including high-end vehicles, police said. .
The manager of the National Office of Drug Intelligence, Detective Inspector Blair MacDonald, previously said Stuff MDMA imports appeared to be skyrocketing in New Zealand, and sewage testing indicated it could be the second most popular drug in the country behind methamphetamine. The test cannot detect cannabis.
“In 2019, Customs and police seized more than 2 million equivalent tablets … an increase of 560 percent from the amount seized in 2018,” MacDonald said.
The Covid-19 lockdown hadn’t put much of a brake on imports either.
“At the end of September, we were seeing 911,000 tablets seized this year.
“We are almost certain that Covid reduced the amount, but even with Covid it is still more than double the seizures of 2018.”
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