EX-AGENT POINTS FINGER

WHEN CUSTOMS Service drugs' investigators executed a search warrant on
the home of a man who had beaten up one of their undercover agents,
they didn't find any drugs, but did get leads on a methamphetamine
ring operating out of Tonga.

Their target, Sionetosi Kelekolio Tapueluelu, himself a former
undercover drugs investigator, offered them a "definite solution" to
their investigation, saying that he could tell them who was behind a
Tongan drugs ring.

He offered up a name that of a Customs official allegedly approaching
passengers at Tonga's international airport and asking them to carry
packages to Auckland.

The Sunday Star-Times has learned that at least three Tongans have
been arrested at Auckland International Airport carrying packages
containing cold and flu pills, which can be used to make
methamphetamine, or P. It is alleged some of the pills came from a
burglary of a hospital in Tonga.

The packages are thought to have been destined for a notorious Tongan
"P-cook" based in South Auckland.

One man, Tongia Te'ekiu, who was coming to New Zealand to pick fruit,
claims he was approached at the airport in Nuku'alofa shortly before
boarding an aircraft and asked to carry an envelope, not knowing what
it contained.

Te'ekiu was convicted of importing a class C drug the package
contained 1400 pills late last year and sentenced to six months' jail.
His lawyer, Frank Hogan, said he was "essentially a mule for someone
else". A spokesman for the Tongan government said efforts had been
stepped up to eliminate drug trafficking, especially to stop seasonal
workers carrying parcels.