A 43-year-old Hutt Valley man has been arrested this week after a massive methamphetamine operation in the Lower North Island.
Police said the man's vehicle was stopped in the central North Island on May 24, a search allegedly revealing he had more than $100,000 in cash and a "significant amount" of methamphetamine on hand.
A subsequent search was then undertaken at a Lower Hutt address, resulting in a seizure of "approximately 10.5 kilos of methamphetamine, other drugs including GBL and cocaine, more than $500,000 in cash, a firearm, and ammunition".
"The 43-year-old man has been charged with possession of methamphetamine for supply, possession of GBL for supply, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of cocaine," a police spokesperson said.
"The investigation remains ongoing and further charges may be laid."
The 10.5kg of seized meth equates to more than 500,000 individual doses.
Police said the haul has a street value of more than $3.6 million and a drug harm prevention figure of over $11 million.
Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson called the seizure "considerable".
"I have no doubt we have disrupted an [alleged] significant supply chain across the Wellington region and wider afield," he said. "Our communities are safer due to the exceptional disruption of this illicit operation and the seizures made."
The arrest was made in relation to Operation Elusive, a National Organised Crime Group investigation into a large-scale meth supply business operating across the Lower North Island.
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