Landlords have been warned by police to keep an eye on activity at their rental properties after a "highly sophisticated" multimillion-dollar crime syndicate was busted in Auckland yesterday.
Up to $25 million worth of cannabis and $100,000 in cash was seized following a three-month investigation into large-scale cannabis cultivations involving Vietnamese nationals.
Ten people were arrested after police carried out 53 search warrants at addresses across the Auckland region as part of Operation Beryl, a multi-agency investigation with the Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation (MBIE) and Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
Forty-two significant cannabis crop grows were located at the homes, with nearly 7000 plants and approximately 10kg of packaged cannabis seized. The haul had a street value between $16m and $25m.
The syndicate was predominantly operating across the Waitematā and Counties Manukau police districts, according to police intelligence.
Police today said some of those facing charges were "forensically aware", wearing disposable gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.
Waitematā Police Acting Detective Sergeant David Coombridge told 1News warned landlords to check on their properties.
"We would say that for every landlord, it would pay to continue doing those three-monthly checks on their properties or whatever is in the tenancy agreement that they’ve got with their tenant for their house," he said.
Those arrested are expected to appear in the Waitākere, North Shore and Counties Manukau district courts over the coming days.
Overstayers on expired visas
MBIE general manager for Immigration Compliance and Investigations, Steve Watson, today confirmed to 1News 12 people will be deported this weekend through to Monday. Three others will be "made liable for deportation" through the cancellation of their visas, which will be processed in the coming weeks.
He said all of those being deported had been overstaying on expired visas, with 10 on visitor visas and two on work category visas.
"They have been unlawfully in New Zealand or their visas have expired for some time. Some of them are over a year, and some of them between six months. Most of them are longer-term overstayers," Watson said.
Watson said organised criminals "will always find a way to breach systems".
"I'm just very happy that we've been able to get ahead of this, catch them and deport them from the country," he said.
Coombridge said further arrests and charges are likely.
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