CUSTOMS MAN IN DRUG RING

A Customs officer caught working for an international drug syndicate helped
smuggle methamphetamine worth hundreds of thousands of dollars through
border controls.

He co-ordinated incoming couriers while on duty at Auckland International
Airport this year, and even carried drugs in himself.

He gave the syndicate information about Customs Service profiling
techniques and work practices to help it circumvent controls.

He even took a cellphone call from an angry courier as his colleagues were
searching him.

Tori Rocky Kotahi Puata was dismissed after his arrest in July, and pleaded
guilty in the Auckland District Court this month to a charge of importing
the drug. He was remanded in custody.

The Customs Service says it was an isolated incident of corruption among
its officers.

The Herald has learned that Puata's role was uncovered during a joint
police-Customs investigation into a syndicate importing crystal
methamphetamine, a potent form of the drug.

Inquiries into a Sydney-based regular traveller to New Zealand thought to
be the syndicate's organiser found links with Puata through phone calls and
associated transtasman travel.

As they were closing in, the 26-year-old took leave from his job as an
assistant team leader in passenger processing to travel to Australia at the
same time as the organiser.

He was stopped by his colleagues and although not carrying anything
admitted his involvement in three previous importations.

His method involved meeting drug couriers at the top of the escalators
leading to Customs processing.

He would check and initial their arrival cards to make sure other officers
knew they had been "searched and cleared".

He would then monitor the couriers' progress through the processing hall to
ensure they passed unimpeded.

On one occasion he carried drugs through himself.

Each importing incident involved several ounces of methamphetamine.

Police say Puata's imports were each worth about $168,000.

As well as passing information to the syndicate, Puata made an unauthorised
check on the Customs intelligence database to see if the syndicate
organiser was the subject of an arrivals alert.

Crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice, is a pure form of the drug
similar to "P", but manufactured in a different way by criminals overseas.
It is worth up to $28,000 an ounce, or $1000 a gram.

Although the syndicate was linked to Australia, it is understood police
believe the drugs may have come from further afield.

No drugs or money were recovered, and police have only Puata's word on the
quantity of drugs imported.

They have not arrested any of the syndicate's other members - including the
suspect who led them to Puata.

Most of them are believed to be overseas.

Auckland's drug squad would say yesterday only that its investigations were
continuing.

Puata had childhood links to members of the syndicate, who targeted him
after finding out he had become a Customs officer.

He claimed he was under pressure and was threatened with violence.

He said that on one occasion a courier phoned him when he wasn't at work
complaining that he was being hassled by another officer.

Puata, whose occupation is listed as "public servant" on court documents,
will be sentenced next month. He faces a maximum of 14 years' imprisonment,
rather than the now mandatory life sentence for the importation of
methamphetamine, because his conspiracy began before the drug was
reclassified to Class A on May 30.

The Customs Service's national manager of investigations, Matt Roseingrave,
said an intensive internal investigation after Puata's arrest had found no
further evidence of corruption.

"This is a rogue element as opposed to a systematic issue."

The service had looked at its employment processes, but had not identified
anything that could have prevented Puata slipping through.

"It is an unfortunate act and it is now over to the court to decide how it
is dealt with."