{"id":38433,"date":"2025-09-23T09:33:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/38433\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T09:33:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T09:33:05","slug":"auckland-man-vaa-vaa-expected-to-earn-100000-from-importing-meth-he-got-jail-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/38433\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland man Va\u2019a Va\u2019a expected to earn $100,000 from importing meth \u2013 he got jail instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Court documents state<\/a> that two consignments of the drug were sent from overseas to his address, with his phone number attached, in August 2023.<\/p>\n

They also say Va\u2019a\u2019s involvement in the scheme \u201cdoes not appear particularly sophisticated\u201d.<\/p>\n

The drugs were concealed in boxes containing vacuum sealing equipment. <\/p>\n

The total amount of methamphetamine involved was 49.43kg.<\/p>\n

Va\u2019a provided a Customs<\/a> \u201cclient code\u201d \u2013 issued to commercial importers to assist Customs clearances \u2013 and communicated with Customs and a logistics company to keep track of where the consignments were.<\/p>\n

At one point, he sent a text saying: \u201cJust want to make sure I\u2019m home to catch it\u201d.<\/p>\n

The text was one of the few left on his phone when police caught up with him. He had erased the others.<\/p>\n

He had also tried to delete communications with a man known as Pako Brendo, a pseudonym for the person under whose direction Va\u2019a was working. <\/p>\n

Va\u2019a had a business that failed about two years before the importation and the court was told he was facing \u201ccultural pressure\u201d to provide for family members.<\/p>\n

Va\u2019a was first charged in the Manukau District Court<\/a> in August 2023 and eventually pleaded guilty to the charge in January 2025.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced in May and subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal<\/a>, arguing the prison sentence was too long.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal dismissed that challenge. <\/p>\n

Motivated by financial gain<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Va\u2019a admits he was motivated by financial gain, given his failing business and financial problems,\u201d the Court of Appeal justices said in the recently released decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe expected to receive $100,000 for his role in the operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile modest in comparison with the expected commercial profit of the importation, this was still a significant sum.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to the court, Va\u2019a said he was deeply remorseful and he had let down his whole family.<\/p>\n

He also acknowledged the impact of methamphetamine use on the Pacific Island community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am disappointed, disgusted and ashamed [of] my actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said his family had cut him off and the conviction would have an impact on his plan to move his family to Australia to seek better lives. <\/p>\n

However, the sentencing court judge concluded that this was not \u201ctrue remorse\u201d and the Court of Appeal justices agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe remorse expected was focused on the circumstances Mr Va\u2019a found himself in and the consequences of his conviction for himself,\u201d the Court of Appeal decision said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came very late and only when he finally realised the gravity of the offending and the impact of his incarceration on his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Va\u2019a was working under Pako Brendo\u2019s direction, he played an \u201coperational and active part\u201d in the drug\u2019s importation, the appeal court said.<\/p>\n

He had the consignments sent to him personally, made key arrangements with the logistics company, used his Customs \u201cclient code\u201d to monitor when the shipments would be cleared, and probably would have been involved with unpacking the vacuum sealers if not for the police action. <\/p>\n

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME\u2019s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke\u2019s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of frontline experience as a probation officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Court documents state that two consignments of the drug were sent from overseas to his address, with his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23562,35198,3469,51,35196,7491,5346,9881,1644,71,17881,692,5838,14349,35195,27705,1334,5158,1868,13240,11692,111,43,139,69,35197,61,35194,1316],"class_list":["post-38433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-23562","tag-50kg","tag-agreed","tag-auckland","tag-difficulties","tag-earn","tag-expected","tag-facing","tag-financial","tag-from","tag-got","tag-he","tag-help","tag-import","tag-importing","tag-instead","tag-jail","tag-man","tag-meth","tag-methamphetamine","tag-nearly","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-payday","tag-to","tag-vaa","tag-when"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38433","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=38433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}