CUSTOMS BETRAYAL: MP CALLS FOR PROBE

The Opposition is demanding an inquiry after a corrupt Customs officer gave
drug smugglers details of border security secrets.

The officer, now awaiting sentencing in the Auckland District Court, worked
at Auckland Airport for four years and learned most of the techniques used
to check incoming passengers.

The most sensitive - profiling techniques used to snare criminals - remain
in the hands of the drug-smuggling ring he briefed on how to slip through
undetected.

As revealed in the Herald yesterday, Tori Rocky Kotahi Puata was arrested
on July 30 and pleaded guilty to a charge of importing crystal methamphetamine.

He admitted helping smuggle drugs through Auckland International Airport
three times between March and June.

He carried the drugs himself once, and at least once shepherded a
"body-packer" who had drugs strapped to his body.

National's Customs spokesman, Shane Ardern, described the security breach
as "enormous" and called for an inquiry to find out exactly what Puata knew
- - and had passed on.

"Those intimate details are now in the hands of those that want to use them
maliciously," he said.

The Customs Service said it was changing its processes and an "ongoing
inquiry" was being made into the ring.

An ex-drug smuggler told the Herald Puata's knowledge would have been "a
great head start" for illegal importers.

He said the criminal world knew little of Customs' profiling techniques.
Body-packing was risky for that and other reasons, such as a smuggler's
tendency to sweat while encased in drug packets.

Customs' national manager of investigations, Matt Roseingrave, said an
internal inquiry had already been held. Puata seemed to have worked
throughout the airport - from "the end of the airbridge to the exit sign",
Mr Roseingrave said.

The most sensitive information he knew was about the profiling triggers
Customs staff use to identify suspicious travellers.

Mr Roseingrave said some of the triggers had been altered since Puata was
arrested, as part of a "constant cycle" of change.

Customs Minister Rick Barker said he was disappointed by Puata's actions,
but he had been briefed on the internal investigation and "remained
impressed" by the service's integrity.

He did not believe an independent inquiry was necessary.

Police and Customs officials in New Zealand refused to comment on efforts
to break the ring and their counterparts in Australia seemed to know little.

Puata rose to assistant team leader at Customs before he was caught.

Court papers said he gave the syndicate "vital information" about Customs'
processes and profiling.

The service could be "very easily compromised by an internal conspiracy,
which is what happened in this instance".

It is understood some of Puata's drug friends have been "flagged", meaning
they will be questioned should they come here.

Tori Puata: Off the fast track to help his mates

Tori Puata was aiming for a promotion to the Customs boats patrolling New
Zealand's shoreline.

Then some old friends came calling wanting help with their drug syndicate,
and he started smuggling methamphetamine.

His corruption was the last thing his family expected after hearing him
boast of the way he had sped through the ranks in his four years of service
to be in charge of his former bosses.

It had been his first job, but he seemed intent on making it a career for life.

"He wouldn't get a job as a cleaner now," his grandfather, Asa Puata, said
yesterday.

Tori Puata is in jail awaiting sentencing on a charge of importing the drug
after he was caught by a joint police and customs investigation of the
Australian-based syndicate in July.

He has a partner and two children.

Asa Puata said Tori was the only one of their 26 grandchildren who had gone
to a private school - the now-closed Maori boys boarding school, St Stephens.

It was there he learned to speak fluent Maori.

Tori's name was the nickname of his great-grandfather and also the name of
his father, who lives in Australia.

Asa Puata said Tori visited him at his home in Kaitaia after his arrest to
explain, saying that "he couldn't say no to his mates".

Tori Puata and his family were sharing a modest Manurewa house worth
$150,000 with his mother, and his grandfather did not know where the money
from the hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of drugs brought across the
border had gone.

"He certainly wasn't flashing it around."