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Customs Minister Maurice Williamson has welcomed the discovery of $72 million of methamphetamine pre-cursor drugs at the Ports of Auckland.

Detectives from the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand, working with Customs Officers, yesterday intercepted 248 kilograms of pseudoephedrine and 16 kilograms of pure ephedrine when a shipping container arrived at the port.

Intelligence gathered from the 18 month long Operation Ghost, which terminated this month and saw $100 million in pre-cursor drugs seized, was critical in identifying the importation.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today that super-yachts, yachts and other small craft visiting New Zealand can now stay for up to two years without paying Customs charges.

All goods coming into New Zealand, including yachts, are subject to duty and GST. Visiting yachts and small craft are granted a temporary entry to exempt owners from paying these charges if they aren’t used commercially or sold, and depart the country within the time period.

Police Minister Anne Tolley and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson have praised their agencies following the largest ever ContacNT precursor drugs bust in New Zealand, in which over 330 kg of the Class B drug has been seized.

Police estimate it would have been used to produce up to 100 kg of methamphetamine, with a street value of $100 million.

$20 million of assets in property, cars and cash were also seized, and 24 arrests made, as 250 Police, OFCANZ and Customs officers today executed 40 search warrants in Auckland and Waikato.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today announced the Customs and Excise Act 1996 will be reviewed.

“The current Act is restrictive and constant changes in the border environment mean that legislative amendments continually have to be made to authorise Customs’ use of new technology and operating methods at the border.

“The review is an opportunity to develop a flexible legislative framework that can adapt to changes at the border and technology, and allows minor changes to be made by regulation rather than legislative amendments

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says four Customs cash detector dogs have found more than $1 million in undeclared or concealed cash during their first three months on the job.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says results from a trial of the next generation of SmartGate technology will now be analysed by Customs.

A prototype called SmartGate Plus, which eliminates the need for a ticket kiosk and makes self-processing at the border a one step process, was installed for four months at Auckland International Airport for departures.

“During the four month trial almost 38,000 people used SmartGate Plus and feedback received from travellers was overwhelmingly positive.

Police Minister Anne Tolley and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today congratulated the Police and Customs for a $2 million drug bust.

Just over two kilograms of methamphetamine, $20,000 and vehicles were seized and five people arrested in the Wellington region yesterday after a joint operation between Police and Customs.

The methamphetamine, which has a street value of $2 million, came from Hong Kong concealed in LED lighting panels.

“There is no place for these despicable drugs in our communities,” says Mrs Tolley.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says on average 60,000 people a week are now using Customs’ automated passenger processing system.

SmartGate was introduced in 2009 and since its roll out in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch has been used by 6.7 million arriving and departing passengers.

“The original targets had SmartGate use reaching more than 60,000 users a week in 2015, so I’m delighted it has shattered all expectations. As more New Zealanders and Australians shift to ePassports we will see a further increase in usage.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today announced drugs worth tens of millions of dollars have been kept off the streets as a result of a seven month Customs operation targeting suspected psychoactive substances.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says Customs’ online duty and GST calculator is helping highlight the additional costs associated with online shopping, which many people are not aware of.

On average, 4,000 people a week are using the calculator on the What’s My Duty? website, and more than 2,100 people have downloaded the mobile app.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today congratulated Customs following the nine year prison sentence handed down to a Hong Kong man caught importing a record haul of methamphetamine, or ‘P’.

“The sentencing of 31-year old Wai Hung Mak at Auckland District Court today sends a clear message that anyone coming to New Zealand solely for the purpose of bringing in drugs will not get away with it.”

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says an operation targeting express delivery low value imports has found more than a quarter are undervalued and evading duty.

Operation Hilton II examined 2562 express consignments and found 733 consignments were above the low-value threshold.

“High value goods are being mis-described and undervalued to speed up border clearance and evade duty. A total of $158,000 in lost revenue has been collected as a result of this operation.

The Government has sounded a clear warning to distributors and retailers who deliberately, or otherwise, contravene recently enacted psychoactive substance laws.

The 28 day period for submitting licence applications under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 ended this week, with no products or retailers permitted in the market unless they have been granted an interim licence by the Psychoactive Substances Regulatory Authority.

Police Minister Anne Tolley and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson say that drug detector dogs are now being trained to sniff out large amounts of currency, to target the proceeds of crime and ensure that criminals are hit hard in the pocket.

A recent trial involving two detector dogs from Police and Customs resulted in the seizure of over $350,000 in undeclared or concealed cash at Auckland International Airport, and while carrying out search warrants.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today that up to $1 billion in methamphetamine and its precursor drugs has been stopped at the border since 2009.

Sixty-six kilograms of methamphetamine and 3.3 tonnes of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine has been intercepted through the International Mail Centre, sea cargo and air cargo shipments, and from individuals entering the country. The street value of these drugs is between $740 million and $1 billion.

The drug harm prevented is calculated to be $410 million.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says a crackdown on the importation of psychoactive substances shows targeted efforts by Customs are paying off.

Since the start of 2012, there have been more than 320 interceptions of Class C Analogue drugs intercepted at the border.  There have also been more than 130 seizures under the Temporary Class Drug Notice (TCDN) regime.  It equates to more than 150 kilograms of suspected psychoactive drugs.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today announced the Government’s $89 million Joint Border Management System has been launched.

Importers, exporters, and their agents and brokers, can now submit shipment details electronically to a single point of contact through the JBMS Trade Single Window, rather than dealing separately with several government agencies.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today the introduction of SmartGate to United States and United Kingdom ePassport holders on departure.

SmartGate is Customs’ automated passenger processing system, which has been used by six million people since its introduction in 2009.

“Building on the success and popularity of SmartGate with New Zealanders and Australians, the system is now being made available to eligible US and UK ePassport holders departing New Zealand.

Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson says a new departure card is in circulation from today.

The simplified form features seven fewer questions for visitors than the old one. Visitors will be required to answer six questions before signing the declaration. New Zealanders will have to answer 12 questions.

“The new card reflects that we don’t need to know certain information, such as the residential addresses visitors stayed at while in the country. We’ll only ask for information that we can’t get from anywhere else.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today announced the Customs Service has begun trialling the next generation of automated passenger processing technology, SmartGate Plus, at Auckland International Airport.

The prototype gate, which has been supplied by Morpho Australasia, is a one-step process which eliminates the kiosk and ticket – a requirement of its predecessor.

It uses face-on-the-fly technology that photographs the person as they approach the scanner.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says a visit by China Customs Vice Minister Mr Lu Bin this week reinforces the commitment to achieve the full benefits of the NZ-China Free Trade Agreement.

Mr Lu Bin is head of the Guangdong Sub-Administration of the General Administration of China Customs.

“Guangdong Province is a key port of entry and trade market for New Zealand, and our discussions were focussed on supporting the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says the number of eligible New Zealand and Australian passport holders using SmartGate on arrival has broken the 70 per cent mark for the first time.

SmartGate is Customs’ automated passenger processing system, which was introduced in 2009. Since its roll out in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch almost six million people have used it.

About 50,000 people every week are processed by the technology when arriving or departing New Zealand.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says a trial of new drug testing tools at the border has been a success.

About 70 white powders are intercepted by Customs each month and up to 40 are referred to Environmental Science and Research for further testing.

“The joint trial by Customs and ESR saw state of the art drug identification devices and ESR staff deployed to the border for four weeks to identify white powders on the spot.”

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says Customs audits have resulted in an additional $48 million being collected for the Crown in just over 18 months.

Customs’ trade assurance arm works to verify that import and export entry data is accurate and to ensure the correct revenue is collected.

Revenue includes duty and GST paid on imported goods, together with excise and excise equivalent duty which is payable on tobacco products, fuel and alcohol products.