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Source: ONE News
Six people have been sentenced for their part in a drugs and money laundering syndicate.
It follows a large-scale six month surveillance operation carried out during 2010, targeting organised crime in the Bay of Plenty.
Royce Duncan, 50 and Wallace Bramley, 38, were sentenced to 15 years' jail and 14 years and 5 months respectively, for a raft of charges including the manufacturing of the Class A drug methamphetamine, money laundering and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Dylan Corlett, 38, received 4 years, 5 months, a 35-year-old man who currently has name suppression received 6 years, 4 months and Stacey Russell, 36, received 9 months home detention for drug offences.
Nigel Walker, 47, was sentenced to 12 months' home detention for money laundering.
Police seized $200,000 in cash, $100,000 worth of gold and silver coins and bars, illegal firearms, cars, motorcycles, a launch and large quantities of methamphetamine.
Bay of Plenty District Crime Manager Detective Inspector Tim Anderson said that "the syndicate was extremely well-organised, with large-scale operations across the Bay of Plenty and stretching into the Waikato and Auckland".
"These people are long-term offenders who essentially make their living from organised criminal activity, in this case, the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine," said Anderson.
"The drug dealing activity of those arrested and charged in this termination is significant and covered the spectrum from street level, to high end dealing and supply, with the estimated value of drugs distributed in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.