DRUG INVESTIGATION NAMED AFTER DEVIL

A Mixture Of Good Old-fashioned Spying And High-tech Interceptions Helped
Police Crack A Major Methamphetamine Ring In The South Island. Dean Calcott
Reports.

They called it Operation Diablo. The name of the Devil.

The police codename was inspired by the licence plate of one of the key
players in a methamphetamine gang convicted in Christchurch this week, but
it could have equally applied to the drug itself.

For months, police in Dunedin and Christchurch had been noticing a big
increase in the numbers of people using the drug, pointing to a readily
available supply in local markets.

Relatively cheap to manufacture and in high demand by drug users,
methamphetamine is an easy moneymaker for those willing to risk their
liberty. It is also habit-forming, can cause psychosis and physical
debilitation for users.

The police suspicions led to an intensive and covert operation in both
cities last year that this week resulted in the convictions of five men on
a raft of serious drug charges.

Police have hailed it as a significant breakthrough in the war on the
booming methamphetamine trade, saying it will make a "considerable impact"
on the supply of the drug to the nightclub scene in both cities.

As the trial unfolded in Christchurch over the past three weeks, it painted
a picture of police operations based partly on good old-fashioned
surveillance and partly on high-tech interceptions of phone conversations
and text messages.

Last August, the two forces set up twin operations, dubbed "Diablo" in
Christchurch and "Mexican" in Dunedin.

Through information gleaned in an unrelated inquiry, Christchurch police
suspected James Samson, a high-profile Christchurch strip club operator,
was supplying meth ingredients to others.

Meth is made from, among other things, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine which
are chemicals extracted from common cold medication.

Police believed Samson ­ who inspired the operation moniker through the
1DEVIL plate on his yellow Holden Monaro ­ was sourcing the chemicals
through an associate, Rota Beattie.

In Dunedin, police attention focused on David John Tate, a well-known drug
user who had received extensive counselling for drug abuse, but had
reverted back to his old habits and was suspected of running clandestine
laboratories.

The fourth man, Anthony Paul Rymer, came into the scheme for his cooking
skills. He was able to follow the detailed recipe for methamphetamine and
do the baking, a volatile and risky process prone to explosion and chemical
contamination.

Based on their suspicions and shared intelligence, police set up covert
surveillance on a vacant house in Pinehurst Crescent, Christchurch, owned
by a relative of Samson. . They listened and watched.

It was not long before the watchers spotted Samson, Tate and Rymer coming
and going from the supposedly empty house. Curtains were drawn at unusual
times for no apparent reason, and several people visited late at night.

Samson was seen buying three bags of ice at a nearby service station early
one morning. Ice is a necessary part of the cooking process for
methamphetamine.

Police decided that these factors, seemingly innocent when taken
individually, together pointed to a clandestine meth laboratory in the house.

About the same time, police in Dunedin began observations on an address
used by Tate, and began intercepting Samson's and Tate's cellphone calls
and text messages. They soon concluded Tate was making methamphetamine in
Dunedin.

In the High Court in Christchurch, the Crown said Tate and Rymer were the
main manufacturers and Samson obtained the precursor substances, which were
supplied by Beattie.

Many of the intercepted conversations referred to drug-making in roundabout
terms, with various code words being used to avoid incriminating words or
phrases.

These included Henry, shirts or P for methamphetamine, water meaning a type
of acid used in the manufacturing process, robots, a type of pharmacy
medicine used to obtain a precursor substance, and "E" to the precursor
substance ephedrine, or the party drug Ecstasy.

The group used a series of nicknames ­ Josh for Beattie, J or Jimmy for
Samson, Dan or Mac for Tate, Gillette for Rymer and Sideshow for another
male dealt with in the Youth Court.

Police also heard grumbles about problems the group was experiencing, such
as a baking having gone wrong, and the meth getting contaminated by
chemical reaction when it was transported in metallic film canisters.

Police also heard grumbles about problems the group was experiencing, such
as a baking having gone wrong, and the meth getting contaminated by
chemical reaction when it was transported in metallic film canisters.

They uncovered interchanges of methamphetamine and chemicals between
Christchurch and Dunedin. For example, they showed 17 grams of
methamphetamine had been sent up to Samson about mid-June, worth about
$17,000 in its pure form and a lot more when "cut".

The fifth man, Nathan Brian Carruth, who used the codename Nigger, was a
close associate of Tate and was brought into the gang as someone who could
deal in the larger amounts of the drug, such as a gram at a time, that the
syndicate was aiming for.

But all was not sweetness and light in the group. As time went on, the
police intercepted calls showing an emerging split.

Tate, Rymer and Samson had been a tight group, but Tate and Rymer had
become frustrated by Samson's apparent increasing unwillingness to provide
the precursor substance and suspected him of holding back. They wanted him
out of the syndicate.

The two went directly to the source, Rota Beattie, and struck a new deal
that he would supply the precursor and chemicals, and help sell
methamphetamine. On October 8, Tate and Rymer went to Dunedin to do a bake.

But at that point police decided matters had gone far enough, ended the
operation and executed search warrants at a number of addresses in both cities.

A methamphetamine recipe was found at Samson's Russley Road home, which he
claimed had been posted to one of his clubs in a prison envelope. Traces of
methamphetamine were found on a mirror.

A number of small plastic bags were also found, which Samson claimed were
for sales of herbal sex enhancement pills that he sold using free-to-dial
numbers and through his clubs. He also sold a type of herbal "speed".

That explanation fell down when police found the numbers did not come into
effect until mid-December, well after the arrests.

No methamphetamine was found at the nightclubs Samson operated ­ Calendar
Girls, K. O.T. Ugly and the Vestry ­ despite thorough searches by police.

At the Dunedin house used by Rymer and Tate, equipment was found which
constituted a clandestine laboratory. Their fingerprints were found on some
of the items.

Methamphetamine-related items were also found at Beattie's and Carruth's
addresses.

At one Christchurch address connected with the conspiracy, a drum of
toluene, a chemical found in brake cleaner and used to make meth, was found
as well as empty bottles of a pharmacy medicine used to extract a precursor.

As for the Dunedin house used by Rymer and Tate, ESR scientist Megan
Chalmers gave evidence it was a typical New Zealand-style portable
methamphetamine operation, capable of being packed up quickly into a couple
of carry bags.

In a preliminary court hearing, some of the defendants made no bones about
their involvement with drugs.

Tate and Rymer both admitted conspiring to supply and manufacture
methamphetamine at depositions, Tate also admitting making and supplying
methamphetamine.

Samson told the court in evidence he had bought methamphetamine, but had
never personally used it.

He said it was bought to keep the domestic peace with his partner, who was
a user. Samson claimed he despised drugs, his late brother having fallen
victim to drug addiction.

When the jury returned its verdict on Thursday, Samson, Beattie and
Carruth, all aged 29, were found guilty on charges of conspiring to make
methamphetamine.

Samson and Carruth were also found guilty on a charge of conspiring to
supply the drug. Samson and Rymer, 45, were found guilty on a charge of
making methamphetamine, and Tate, 42, and Rymer guilty of unlawfully
possessing laboratory equipment.

The group, facing potentially long jail sentences, will be sentenced in
mid-July by Justice Panckhurst.

Police were reluctant to comment on the convictions until after the
sentencing but have previously hailed the bust as an important breakthrough
in the ongoing fight to stem the meth supply.