Home pill factory busted

WARWICK SMITH/Manawatu Standard

CONFISCATED: Chief Customs Officer Kirk McPherson of Wellington and Detective Inspector Chris Bensemann, field crime manager of the Central Police District, with a pill-making machine seized during a drug bust.

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Equipment seized during police raids on four Palmerston North houses will make a sizeable dent in a large-scale drug operation.

A motorised pill press, capable of fast, bulk manufacture of tablets, which had recently been imported into the country, was found at one home. A small quantity of chemicals was found at the same house.

Police believe the drug operation has been working since April.

Police and customs officers stormed the houses about 5am yesterday and arrested three men, following a four-month investigation.

A 26-year-old has been charged with five drug dealing offences involving Class A, B and C controlled drugs.

A 20-year-old man has been charged with six drug dealing offences also involving Class A, B and C controlled drugs.

A 19-year-old man has been charged with four drug dealing offences involving Class C controlled drugs.

The 26-year-old and the 20-year-old will both appear in Palmerston North District Court today and the third man has been bailed to appear on Thursday next week.

Police have been monitoring the trio since April after New Zealand Customs Service intercepted a falsely-declared package destined for Palmerston North containing equipment that could be used in the manufacture of drugs.

Detective Inspector Chris Bensemann said the operation was a good example of how Government agencies worked together to infiltrate organised drug networks.

"This started with simple beginnings – suspicious packages – and has resulted in three people facing serious drug supply charges."

An elderly neighbour of one of the properties stormed in Dahlia Street said the sound of banging woke her about 5am.

Though the back fence of the house was lined with barbed wire, she said she had never had any trouble from the group of men who lived in the house. "They had parties but no different to any other young group of people flatting."

The house backed on to the Caci Clinic, which was guarded by an armed police officer for most of the morning.

- © Fairfax NZ News