Drugs ring broken—police

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 1

Drugs ring broken —police

The police believe they have broken a drugs network between Invercargill and Christchurch after earlymorning raids in both cities yesterday. Detectives and uniformed police teams descended on a total of 36 houses and seized $45,000 worth of cannabis and cannabis plants. The raids were the culmination of more than a year of work by a lone undercover policeman. A quantity of stolen property, including three video cassette recorders, was also recovered. Ten persons were arrested in Christchurch. They appeared in the District Court yesterday on charges relating to drug dealing, receiving stolen property or both.

None had resisted arrest, and there had been no incidents, the police said. Seventeen arrests were made in Invercargill and more are expected. All the Christchurch arrests related to growing or dealing in cannabis. Detective Senior-Sergeant A. Lynskey said that the undercover man had worked mainly in the Invercargill area, but had followed drug links to Christchurch. Some of those arrested in Invercargill will face charges involving the class A drug, DMA, and bookmaking. The police visits started simaltaneously in both centres at 6 a.m. Detectives in Christchurch were still “tying up loose ends,” 10 hours later.