![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JPQ466_Stolen_pounamu_west_coast_16x10_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nA police bust in Central Otago and South Westland has resulted in one tonne of pounamu being recovered.
\nPhoto: NZ POLICE \/ SUPPLIED\n<\/p>\n
Despite being the legal owners of the stone, Ng\u0101i Tahu say people are consistently stealing the precious taonga – as two high-profile cases this month show<\/p>\n
Pounamu is a sacred taonga to Ng\u0101i Tahu that has a growing black market.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a police bust recovered one ton of pounamu<\/a> in Central Otago and South Westland.<\/p>\n Three people are set to appear in the Greymouth District Court next week, charged with theft.<\/p>\n This comes not long after a mother and son duo were found guilty of attempting to export an illegal amount of pounamu to China<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is the first time a prosecution of this kind has been successful.<\/p>\n Ng\u0101i Tahu were not part of the case against the pair, but Kara Edwards (Ng\u0101i Tahu), the Pouarahi\/ chief executive Officer of Te R\u016bnanga o Makaawhio – one of the boards under Ng\u0101i Tahu that oversees the protection of pounamu – has been following the case, and she said this verdict sets a precedent.<\/p>\n “I think it was a really important verdict because it signals to would-be illegal pounamu exporters that if you do this and you get caught, you will be prosecuted.”<\/p>\n \n14 Poutini Ng\u0101i Tahu (West Coast Ng\u0101i Tahu) pounamu stones weighing close to 60 kg returned on 1 November 2024 by New Zealand Customs. Under the Ng\u0101i Tahu Pounamu Vesting Act 1997, within its tribal boundaries, Ng\u0101i Tahu is considered the legal owner and kaitiaki of the stones. As part of that, it is responsible for giving permits to anyone who wants to collect pounamu.<\/p>\n Edwards said that the legitimate market is consistently being undermined by sites like Trade Me, Facebook Marketplace and Etsy because there are always listings available online for illegal stone.<\/p>\n “Pounamu protection is a little bit like the whack-a-mole game. You shut down one method that people are utilising to take pounamu illegally, and then another one crops up.<\/p>\n “You have to be ever-vigilant.”<\/p>\n Nathanieal Scott (Poutini Kai Tahu), a self-employed carver and pounamu collector, has previously been granted two permits from Makaawhio to go out and collect pounamu.<\/p>\n He believes that this issue dates back decades.<\/p>\n “I think ever since the stone has been mined in New Zealand, I think the black market has always been an issue. [Even with] permitting in the 1980s, people were extracting greenstone outside their permits.”<\/p>\n And unfortunately, Scott said that interactions with illegal collectors are a frequent occurrence.<\/p>\n “My exposure to the black market [is that] we deal with it every day. We see a lot of non-wh\u0101nau members coming in.”<\/p>\n He said that the solution is “re-educating them and pointing them in the right direction to Ng\u0101i Tahu pounamu, to some of our pounamu protection officers.”<\/p>\n Although it is illegal to take large amounts of pounamu and sell it raw, people are allowed to publicly fossick for pounamu on West Coast beaches, as long as they can carry it on their person, and there are no other rules that would prevent them from gathering the stone.<\/p>\n Edwards said that both iwi and locals have a responsibility in educating one another on the rules around taking pounamu.<\/p>\n “The majority of people, once they know what the rules are, they are happy to abide by them. So, we recognise that we’ve got a role in educating people for sure.<\/p>\n “In saying that, people have a personal responsibility to find out the rules before they embark on activities like gathering pounamu.<\/p>\n “I think it’s everybody’s job to understand the law. Ignorance of the law is not a defence.”<\/p>\n Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook<\/a> or following us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police bust in Central Otago and South Westland has resulted in one tonne of pounamu being recovered.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-394528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394528","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=394528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Customs](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4KHEH0K_image010_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n