A West Auckland builder has begun a five-year prison sentence for attempting to import what he believed was 200 kilograms of methamphetamine. Joshua Auina-Anae was at the center of an international law enforcement operation involving authorities in China, New Zealand Customs, and the New Zealand Police.
Suspicions in China
The attempted drug importation first came to the attention of Chinese authorities on October 16, 2023. The Anti-Smuggling Bureau (ASB) examined a consignment of two pallets of granite and discovered methamphetamine hidden inside. Officers replaced the drugs with a dummy substance before the granite left Yantian Port aboard the ship the NYK FUSHIMI.
The shipment arrived at the Ports of Auckland on November 7, where Customs and police initiated a “managed delivery.” The granite was moved from the port on November 16 to a freight forwarding company in Airport Oaks and then to a storage facility in Avondale.
On November 28, a truck not involved in the importation picked up the granite, followed by a Hiace van registered to Auina-Anae. Both vehicles traveled to a commercial space in Hobsonville, where the granite slabs were dropped off. Auina-Anae was observed entering and exiting a unit at the location.
At approximately 3:21 p.m., members of the police’s special tactics group arrested Auina-Anae inside the unit. He had begun to break open one of the granite slabs and access the area where the drugs would have been stored, exposing scoria-type rocks underneath after removing a layer of the dummy substance.
According to court documents, Auina-Anae was found with a sledgehammer and crowbar, and had begun placing the dummy substance into containers. He told police he received instructions for the job from an unknown individual.
‘Bottom of the chain’
During sentencing at the Auckland District Court on August 4, Auina-Anae’s lawyer, Jasper Rhodes, argued his client was a low-level participant in the operation – a “capture” who took all the risk for minimal reward. Auina-Anae acknowledged to Judge Evangelos Thomas that he had let down his supporters, who were present in the courtroom.
Judge Thomas stated that police apprehended Auina-Anae “redhanded” after he had begun extracting what he thought was methamphetamine, noting that had it been the real drug, he could have faced a life sentence. He initially considered an eight-year sentence but reduced it based on Auina-Anae’s early guilty plea, previous good character, and time already served.
However, Judge Thomas determined that even with these reductions, the sentence would not adequately reflect the seriousness of the offense. “This was one of the biggest attempts to manufacture and to import methamphetamine that we have seen. There is an incalculable public interest in deterring methamphetamine crime of any kind,” he said.
Ultimately, Auina-Anae was sentenced to five years in prison.
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