Wellington Police District investigators have arrested 45 people in the last five days during a short-term high-impact crime operation targeting drugs, property and weapons offences.
Detective Senior Sergeant Darrin Thomson, head of Wellington Metro Crime Unit, says more than 40 search warrants were executed in Operation Groper, aimed at mid to lower level drug dealers and those involved in trading property for drugs.
The search warrants were spread across the Wellington District including the city area, Kapiti Mana, Wairarapa and the Hutt Valley. It followed similar operations (Crackdown and Poker) run last year.
Those arrested have either appeared or have been bailed to appear in court in the coming days. Charges laid against them include:
• Selling methamphetamine
• Possession of methamphetamine, cocaine, Ecstasy, morphine, cannabis for supply
• Possession of offensive weapons including firearms
• Importing Ecstasy
• Possession of methamphetamine, GBL, Ecstasy, cannabis, drug instruments and prescription medicines
• Unlawful taking of motor vehicles
• Theft and receiving
• Breach of bail.
Detective Senior Sergeant Thomson says Operation Groper involved more than 40 police, led by the Organised Crime Unit, with support from other police staff and the New Zealand Customs Service.
“This was a successful Intelligence driven operation with arrests on a wide variety of drugs, property and firearms offences,” he says.
“Police will continue to target individuals who prey on the vulnerable and push hard drugs in order to support their own life style. We take a zero tolerance approach to methamphetamine and everything it stands for.
At some properties police were concerned to find young children in environments where they were surrounded by drugs and associated items, including firearms.
"In one Wairarapa house we found a sawn off shotgun beside a school bag in the lounge, and a tv hooked up to surveillance cameras watching the street frontages. Children are impressionable and inquisitive. Having drugs and firearms lying around where children are playing or living is a recipe for disaster," Detective Senior Sergeant Thomson says.
Further arrests are likely with some people still to be found and interviewed.
Ends
Media contact: DSS Darrin Thomson, Wellington Police Metro Crime Unit,
tel 04 496 3514.