4 Nigerians Jailed 18 Years for Smuggling Drugs into New Zealand

Four Nigerians and a New Zealander have received long jail terms for their roles in an international drug smuggling ring, the New Zealand Police, said on Friday.
The Nigerians were jailed for terms of 15 to 18 years after being found guilty of importing and possessing methamphetamine for supply, while the New Zealander was jailed for nine years for the same offence.
A police statement said that the sentences handed down at the Auckland High Court on Thursday marked a successful end to a combined police and customs operation that began in November 2013.
Operation Gatsby was launched after Customs officers discovered methamphetamine with a street value of 1.04 million dollars in the luggage of an Auckland man who had just returned from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
Detective Senior Sgt. Lloyd Schmid said officers determined that the man had been duped and used as a drug mule by an international syndicate and launched an operation to track the destination of the methamphetamine.
“During the five-week investigation, they identified two further importations containing over 1.2 kilogrammes of methamphetamine.
“Both had been sent to New Zealand through the international mail system from the Philippines and Cameroon.
“Operation Gatsby demonstrates that the New Zealand drug market is being targeted by organised crime syndicates from every corner of the globe,’’ Schmid said in the statement.
Two other members of the drug syndicate had been sentenced previously for their roles in the operation.
In August 2014, a 39-year-old woman was jailed for four years for possession of methamphetamine for supply, and in January, a 40-year-old man pleaded guilty to a similar charge and was jailed for five years and eight months.