{"id":71697,"date":"2025-10-11T08:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T08:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/71697\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T08:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T08:51:08","slug":"whangarei-teen-jailed-for-four-years-and-six-months-over-meth-importation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/71697\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei teen jailed for four years and six months over meth importation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customs<\/a> detected an anomaly while X-raying the package, which had been declared as clothing garments.<\/p>\n

Inside the box was a backpack and toilet bag, which they suspected had been tampered with.<\/p>\n

The lining of the backpack revealed layers of foam, which concealed a plastic zip-lock bag containing white crystals.<\/p>\n

The combined weight was 941g of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

Police conducted inquiries as to who lived at the address the package was destined for and discovered the recipient\u2019s name was fake.<\/p>\n

However, further inquiries revealed one of the occupants at the address was 30-year-old Liam Lomas.<\/p>\n

On June 6, 2024, police and customs officers carried out a controlled delivery with a placebo package similar in appearance to meth and placed a substance on the package that would leave dye on the recipient\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Around 1pm, Lomas and Erihe-Riwhi arrived at the Morningside<\/a> address and uplifted the package.<\/p>\n

A tracking device inside the package alerted police that it was in transit to an address in Tikipunga, Whang\u0101rei.<\/p>\n

Lomas and Erihi-Riwhi took the package to a garage at the rear of the property, dismantled the placebo and then put it into a large plastic container.<\/p>\n

Returning to the vehicle with the container, they reversed out of the driveway but police<\/a> intercepted their car.<\/p>\n

Lomas ran to the rear of the property and threw a Walther pistol and ammunition under the house and a cellphone over the fence.<\/p>\n

The pair were both found to have dye on their hands and were arrested.<\/p>\n

Some $50,000 in cash was also found under the passenger seat of the car and Erihe-Riwhi had $1900 on him.<\/p>\n

\"AlmostAlmost a kilo of meth was found by Customs officers in the lining of a backpack. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Both were charged with importation of meth while Lomas also faced possession for supply of ecstasy and meth. He was recently sentenced to nine years\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n

At Erihe-Riwhi\u2019s sentencing, lawyer Mathew Ridgley said his client had seen a chance to make money, without considering the longer-term consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gets the phone call, he won\u2019t say who from, he\u2019s told \u2018meet this man, deliver to an address\u2019,\u201d Ridgley told the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s told to go to an address, pick up the package, you bring it back, you drive me here and you drive me there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dumb decision, and, in my submission, dumb decisions are seldom made in a vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridgley said Erihe-Riwhi was aware of the harm his offending was doing to the community, but Judge Gene Tomlinson said he did not buy that from a 19-year-old.<\/p>\n

Crown lawyer Eilish O\u2019Connor said Erihe-Riwhi knew the extent of what he was getting involved in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not impulsive offending. Not only is he involved in transporting, he\u2019s been involved in dismantling the package and repacking it,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver seems to be, in this case, to put it bluntly, financial gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Tomlinson acknowledged Lomas was the lead offender in the importation charges and Erihe-Riwhi was doing as he was told by those further up the gang hierarchy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been inculpated, meaning you were right in there in that criminal background,\u201d Judge Tomlinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t make any other choices because that\u2019s who you are and that\u2019s what you want to do and that\u2019s really sad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere you more mature, older than 25, you would have looked at it and thought \u2018That\u2019s a dumb idea\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erihe-Riwhi was sentenced to four years and six months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customs detected an anomaly while X-raying the package, which had been declared as clothing garments. Inside the box…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33914,74,15408,95,6128,4057,9525,3401,56781,2082,3011,42,30538,56779,14641,56783,15028,1868,13240,3234,43,1523,52057,56780,29952,205,4739,5163,40,38,41,39,56782,1869,102,1530],"class_list":["post-71697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-19yearold","tag-after","tag-almost","tag-and","tag-bars","tag-behind","tag-caught","tag-drug","tag-dyestained","tag-for","tag-four","tag-headlines","tag-helping","tag-importation","tag-jailed","tag-kilogram","tag-landing","tag-meth","tag-methamphetamine","tag-months","tag-news","tag-over","tag-palms","tag-redhanded","tag-ring","tag-role","tag-six","tag-teen","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uplift","tag-whangrei","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71697","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=71697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}