DIAL-A-DRUG SCHEME HEAD FOUND GUILTY

The head of a "dial-a-drugs" operation who used telephone pagers for
regular customers has been found guilty of drugs charges.

A jury in the High Court at Auckland found Airoe Clarkson, aged 38 of
Mangere, guilty of charges including manufacturing amphetamine (speed),
conspiracy to supply LSD and amphetamine, cultivating cannabis, and
money-laundering.

Over the previous 2 1/2 weeks the jury had heard that Clarkson used
telephone pagers to run his drugs empire. His operation was dubbed
"dial-a-drug" by prosecutors Jonathan Krebs and Gina De Graaff.

The case prompted senior police to say they are fighting crime with one
hand tied behind their backs as offenders turn to more sophisticated ways
of avoiding detection.

Clarkson devised a drugs-ordering system for regular customers using pagers
so that no one could eavesdrop.

Through a series of code numbers appearing on his dozen or so pagers,
Clarkson was able to identify who the customer was, what drug he or she
wanted, the required quantity and the time and place at which they were to
be dropped.

Because it was too difficult to remember all the complex codes, he
committed them to two electronic diaries, which police later seized.

Armed with this information, the police obtained a warrant to recover some
of the coded messages sent to the pagers.

Clarkson's sister, Desiree Frisbie, aged 39 of Chapel Downs, who was said
to be the second in command, was convicted of a variety of drug-related
charges and Matthew Todd Waller, 30, of Mangere, was found guilty on two
counts.

Justice Bruce Robertson remanded them in custody for sentencing next month.

Four other people were cleared of all charges. They were Katrine
Apouri-Clarkson and Maia Boaza, both represented by Isaac Koya, Johnston
Kornelius Rohipa, represented by Shane Cassidy, and Lawrence Cresswell,
represented by Irene West.

Despite his success, the officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant
Richard Middleton of the organised crime squad, complained about
"budgetary" constraints. Hundreds of messages were sent to the pagers but
because Telecom charged $100 to retrieve each, he could afford to recover
only 60.

Mr Krebs said he would like to see some of the money recovered from major
drug-dealers given to the police to defray the high costs of electronic
surveillance.