Big heroin haul

Press, 21 April 1979, Page 1

Big heroin haul

PA Auckland In the second big drug find in Auckland this month, detectives yesterday seized heroin that could have been worth up to $250,000 in the black market. The drugs were found by the police in a raid on a house in Morningside. Detectives could not say whether there was any direct link between the find and another haul earlier this month in south Auckland.

In the south Auckland find, detectives uncovered 941 g of high-grade heroin buried in the back garden of a house. The police said that this haul could have carried a street value of more than SIM if it had been diluted with a substance similar in appearance, such as glucose. Drug squad officers were also investigating the possibility that the find was only part of a consignment smuggled into New Zealand recently.

The raid yesterday was made early in the afternoon and produced 21g of heroin said the deputy head of the Auckland district CJ.B. Detective Inspector P. J. O’Donovan.

A man and a woman have been questioned by detectives in connection with the latest find. A man aged 28, will appear in the Magistrate's Court at Auckland this morning on a charge of possessing heroin for supply. A woman, aged 23, will face a charge of possessing the drug.

The raid was made as Customs officers were revealing the latest statistics on the amount of drugs coming into New Zealand by mail.

The Chief Customs investigations officer at Auckland (Mr D. C. Khouri) said his men had detected drugs valued at more than $200,000 in mail during the last year.