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Source: ONE News -
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Landlords are being warned to beware of boarders receiving bulk overseas mail as it could contain the raw ingredients to make p.
The warning follows a Customs operation targeting organised crime syndicates importing large quantities of pseudoephedrine.
Customs say increasingly it is arriving via mail from China.
It is the raw material that goes into Chinese cold and flu capsules that can be cooked up to make methamphetamine, or p as many people know it.
Bruce Berry from Customs and Drugs Investigations says in the past two weeks customs has seized 46 kilograms of it.
"The 46 kilos of pseudo that we picked up would have made between seven and 11 kilos of methamphetamine with a minimum street value of $7 million," says Berry.
That kind of money, it seems, motivates criminal importers.
"In the last five years we have seen a 1,200% increase in the numbers of seizure and interceptions," says Berry.
Customs says smugglers are increasingly creative in concealing the drugs.
Berry says a stereo turntable came through the mail with an added extra. When Customs pulled it apart, he says they found bags containing almost three kilograms of pseudoephedrine.
Customs is warning landlords, particularly in Asian communities, to be weary of boarders who can seem overly interested in mail.
They may pay cash up front and not move in for a while but parcels could start arriving on the doorstep before they do.
Authorities advise getting a copy of their passport or licence so people know exactly who they are living with.
Rosa Chow from the Asian Council for Reducing Crime says everyone has the responsibility of helping in the battle against p.
"Everyone living in New Zealand has the responsibility of helping in the reduction of crime. So I think if the landlord can ask for identification it's the least the landlord can do as a citizen," she says.
As a result of Customs' most recent seizures seven people are facing charges.
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