DRUG DEALERS GO SHOPPING IN TARANAKI

Taranaki has become a target for "shopping trips" for drug dealers buying
methamphetamine ingredients at chemist shops, say police.

In the last 10 days, New Plymouth CIB have arrested six people who allegedly
came into Taranaki specifically to buy such drugs as Actifed and Sudafed
from chemists, Detective Sergeant Greg Gray, head of the organised crime
squad, said yesterday.

Methamphetamine, commonly known as speed, is concerning police as it becomes
more prevalent as the drug of choice. The shopping trips were a recent
development, he said.

"In the past, when methamphetamine was first being manufactured in New
Zealand (the last eight to 10 years), the druggies used to break into
pharmacy warehouses.

"Now the common trend is to send people on shopping trips.

"We want the message to get out that we're not a soft touch in Taranaki."

The three arrests involved separate groups of shoppers who had come from
different areas - King Country, Hamilton and Auckland, he said.

Some had maps and phone books' yellow pages with the chemists noted on them.

"The information we received meant we were able to locate them. We were able
to recover the packets they had purchased.

"It is pretty obvious what they are purchasing the stuff for."

Another shopper had escaped police after buying packets in Eltham, Hawera,
Patea and Waverley, Mr Gray said.

These shoppers commonly went into all pharmacies in the area buying up
products which contained ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

When they returned to their home town they could double their money by
selling the $15 packets to middlemen for about $30 a packet.

The middleman then sold it on to the "cook" for between $50 to $80 who in
turn manufactured the methamphetamine.

The speed, a white powder mostly combined with substances such as brewing
sugar or even Ajax so that it was only about 5% pure, was sold on the street
for between $120 to $180 a gram.

Police were keeping in touch with pharmacists to keep them informed of the
latest trends.

Since 1998, it has been illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act to possess, or
sell any of the precursor ingredients when they were being used to
manufacture methamphetamine.

Anyone with information about methamphetamine should ring 0800 Crime Stop
(0800 274 637).