Pupils used by drug importers

Asian pupils as young as 16 are being offered up to $1000 a parcel to import pseudoephedrine for drug rings.

Up to 10 kilograms of pseudoephedrine was being seized each week at the borders and most of it was being brought in by pupils, the head of the Auckland drug squad, Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill, said yesterday.

The students allow crime gangs to post the drug, one of main ingredients of methamphetamine, or P, to their addresses.

Mr Cahill spoke out as Zhu Kuan, 17, said to be a pupil at Auckland Grammar, appeared in Auckland District Court this week on charges of importing the class C controlled drug Contact NT and money laundering.

He faces a maximum jail term of eight years for importing drugs and money laundering and will reappear next month.

Contact NT is a flu remedy containing pseudoephedrine sold legally over the counter in China. Chinese business consultant Bo Li said the fact Contact NT was commonly available in China led students to rationalise it was not a serious crime.

Brian Cao, from the New Zealand Chinese Students Association, said New Zealand was seen as "soft" on drugs. In China dealers could face the death penalty.

The court was told Kuan was an Auckland Grammar School pupil.

However principal John Morris said he was not aware of a student facing drugs charges. International student manager Sandra Heslin said she had not heard of Kuan.

Earlier this year, Auckland Grammar tried to exclude a student caught allegedly smoking marijuana. His parents took the school to the High Court challenging it.