National’s Crime Claims Are a Joke — And You’re the Punchline
As drug use surges and organised crime becomes more sophisticated, serious questions are being raised about whether current crime policies are addressing the real drivers of New Zealand’s growing criminal networks.
Rising Drug Use Despite Enforcement Claims
Police minister says drug enforcement is working, despite cocaine use up 98%
“If enforcement is working, why are more drugs flowing into the country?”
That is the central question for Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who recently announced New Zealand will send five police officers and drug dogs to Samoa to help combat South American cartels using the Pacific as a drug superhighway.
The move comes as police wastewater testing showed a 98% increase in the use of cocaine by Kiwis during the final quarter of 2025 – overtaking MDMA use for the first time.
Testing also showed New Zealanders consumed over 37kg of methamphetamine per week during the same period.
Mitchell argued the increase in detections didn’t necessarily mean more people were taking drugs – instead, wastewater testing by police showed existing users were taking meth more frequently, he said.
However, the scale of the increase raised questions about the impact enforcement had on drug supply.
STUFF
A Crisis Years in the Making
If I sound bitter on this issue, it’s because The Daily Blog has been banging on about this for over half a decade now.
Look.
The 501 Impact on NZ’s Criminal Underworld
When Australia started deporting their 501s to us, it was the greatest upheaval in the history of the criminal underworld here in NZ.
The reality was that despite all the fear mongering and claims that our gangs were the worst, the truth was our domestic organised crime underworld was far less violent and criminally sophisticated as the Australian underworld is.
The Australian underworld has open contact with South American Cartels and they operate at a counter intelligence level.
Not all 501s are hardened criminals, many are just caught up in a populist Australian narrative that wants all criminals sent back home, but some absolutely were and once they realised how soft the NZ domestic criminal underworld was, they immediately began stand-over tactics and take over moves.
That’s what all those shooting and murders were.
How the Drug Trade Has Changed
Previously NZ alpha gangs imported pseudoephedrine from Triad contacts and made the meth here. They import the finished product now. The alpha gangs would organise its import from Triad contacts, the local gangs running the ports and the airports would bring it through and the bikie gangs transport it around their distribution networks.
Cartel Influence in New Zealand
The 501 syndicates have upended that arrangement using uber violence to take over choke holds in the drug trade and they have a purer and cheaper meth from their South American Cartel contacts.
The 501 syndicates run the meth trade and the coke trade and the illegal gun trade now.
That’s why we are seeing the price plummet and use explode in waste water.
I have warned over and over and over again that we can’t allow Cartels to see us as a legitimate market because our plods are too thick for them and they are a cancer that once gains hold in a community can never be cut out.
Cartels are incredibly dangerous and corrosive to a Society.
We are seeing that now with the increase of criminal sophistication to bribe corrections officers and border security…
Corruption at the Border
Gang members in prison allegedly control corrupt airport staff to import drugs
A pair of influential prison inmates were allegedly able to smuggle large amounts of drugs into New Zealand through a network of corrupt workers at Auckland airport, the Herald can reveal.
The case has again raised concerns about the ease with which prisoners can access cell phones while behind bars, in order to continue their alleged criminal activity or simply post on social media.
A total of 20 baggage handlers were arrested last year during Operation Matata, a covert investigation into ongoing seizures of methamphetamine and cocaine – sometimes 50 kilograms or 100 kilograms in weight – found inside unaccompanied luggage.
The smuggling tactic was simple but effective.
Overseas-based drug suppliers would arrange for their illicit product, packed inside luggage, to be stashed on a flight bound for Auckland.
Once the plane landed, baggage handlers would find the correct luggage and secretly remove it from the airport before the bags could be screened by security.
The “rip on, rip off” tactic is common throughout the world, and relies on organised crime syndicates having trusted insiders working at the border.
NZME
…as their power grows, they will add Detectives, Prosecutors and Judges onto that list of corruption.
Look, we are a stupid, simple folk who believe banning gang patches is a solution to organised crime.
We are not smart enough to avoid the Cartel dominance that is coming, that’s why we need that new FBI base in Wellington.
The Role of Shadow Banking in Drug Trafficking
Add to this the fact China use Grey Zone warfare in the Pacific to spread narcotics and the Chinese shadow banking infrastructure that allows domestic 501 syndicates in NZ to buy drugs directly from the Cartels and we are caught between Cartels and State actors influencing drugs networks into NZ.
The expose in the Financial Times at how wide spread Chinese shadow banking for criminal organisations has become also notes Auckland in the global chain of this criminal empire…
Chinese brokers launder hundreds of millions for global crime groups
Chinese money launderers are facilitating the fentanyl epidemic and helping international drug traffickers, like Mexican cartels and the Italian mafia, launder the proceeds of crime. The FT investigates the connection between capital flight from China and global organised crime
What a Real Crackdown Would Look Like
…let me spell it out in case you are missing my point.
SHUT. DOWN. THE. CHINESE. SHADOW. BANKING. SERVICES!
They are providing banking infrastructure to the cartels FFS, that’s why we are flooded with Meth – because the suppliers and the dealers can easily transfer the money to buy and sell the meth, that means all they need to do is smuggle in the product without worrying about moving the cash around.
It makes the drug dealing very easy.
If we were serious about cracking down on organised crime and not just paying lip service to it, we would hire 100 Mandarin speaking police officers.
National’s claims on crime are a joke and you are all the punchline.
I thought we let the spooks set up a base in Wellington to help reduce drugs coming into our country,it’s obviously not working given the waste water results showing high rates of cocaine use. Remind me why are they here in our city the Fbi spy’s.
I’m aghast! The absolute BS from this deranged lot never seems to end. They are so thick-skinned they can’t even think slightly outside the square. 98% increase in drugs shows drug enforcement is NOT working at all. People are in a state of “hopelessness”! Our NZ gangs, pre 501s, are pussycats in comparison. Martyn is constantly saying we need to SHUT DOWN THE CHINESE SHADOW BANKING! But does Mitchell have the “b&lls” or courage to do it – doubt it! Also why hasn’t NZ sent the ChCh mass murderer back to Oz; why are our taxes paying for his arrogance and gall? The NZ we love has almost disappeared. If that’s what you want then continue down this sleazy, pitiful and dangerous path. You’re almost there!
The Australian killer was caught and imprisoned under Labour .Prisoners deported usually go I the last month of their sentence. I would want him kept here to ensure he served his full sentence and not subject to a new standard of judgment.