{"id":226788,"date":"2026-01-10T14:11:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/226788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T14:11:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:11:23","slug":"sunlive-port-of-tauranga-18kg-cocaine-and-meth-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/226788\/","title":{"rendered":"SunLive &#8211; Port of Tauranga: 18kg cocaine and meth bust"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Customs officers at the Port of Tauranga spent their Boxing Day opening boxes, including several containing about 18kg of methamphetamine and cocaine, with an estimated street value of $6.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>Customs maritime manager Robert Smith said the drugs were found inside a shipping container, which originated in South America and transited via Panama before it arrived in Tauranga on December 26.<\/p>\n<p>Smith said the container was risk-assessed and flagged as part of Customs\u2019 layered approach to pre-arrival, and screened on arrival in Tauranga.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring inspections, frontline officers found irregularities within the container.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurther inspection led to the seizure of an estimated 10kg of methamphetamine, packaged in 1kg bundles, and seven bricks of cocaine weighing an estimated 8kg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith said the amount of methamphetamine and cocaine would have equated to a retail street value of up to $3m and $3.5m respectively, which would now not \u201cfeed the pockets of criminals\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This takes the total cocaine seizures at the Port of Tauranga last year to more than 558kg, with an estimated street value of $194.8m,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/bay-of-plenty-times\/news\/port-of-tauranga-cocaine-and-meth-seizures-surge-amid-push-by-drug-cartels\/DR56XUN3DFAKDN6KYCSYF3O55U\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/bay-of-plenty-times\/news\/port-of-tauranga-cocaine-and-meth-seizures-surge-amid-push-by-drug-cartels\/DR56XUN3DFAKDN6KYCSYF3O55U\/\">more than double that discovered in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This includes an estimated 16kg of cocaine with a street value of $5.6m discovered in a refrigerated container on a ship that arrived in Tauranga on December 11.<\/p>\n<p>Its voyage began in Peru, transiting through Balboa, Panama, before arriving in Tauranga.<\/p>\n<p>On December 4, 45kg of cocaine valued at nearly $16m was found in a container that originated in Houston, Texas, which also transited via Balboa.<\/p>\n<p>Cocaine and meth seizures at the Port of Tauranga have topped a value of almost $969m in just under four years, according to the latest Customs figures.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"New Zealand Customs is using intelligence and technology to battle rising drug smuggling at the Port of Tauranga. Photo \/ Mike Scott\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/M3AIFDKZ5RAPPMZRAVUVPSHSOQ.jpg\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>New Zealand Customs is using intelligence and technology to battle rising drug smuggling at the Port of Tauranga. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n<p>Smith said that, while many Kiwis spent Boxing Day with their families, Customs officers in Tauranga were intercepting high-risk containers and ensuring legitimate trade continued smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis seizure highlights Customs\u2019 commitment to continue to apply pressure on criminal networks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany legitimate companies were seeing firsthand the impact this type of activity can have on their businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/author\/sandra-conchie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sandra Conchie<\/a>\u00a0is a senior journalist at the\u00a0Bay of Plenty Times\u00a0and\u00a0Rotorua Daily Post, who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional\/community reporter of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Discover more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customs officers at the Port of Tauranga spent their Boxing Day opening boxes, including several containing about 18kg&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-226788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}