
He appears not to have been joking as a small point bag containing remnants of synthetics was later found outside. In three of the smuggling attempts at the Ramada, the cannabis was concealed inside bottles of shampoo or conditioner, while in another a gram of the plant was hidden inside chocolate biscuits dropped off for a guest.Īt the Grand Millennium isolation hotel in central Auckland in September, an Army officer reported a man making a joke about smoking synthetic cannabis while heading outside, ostensibly for a cigarette. The nine drug-smuggling attempts at Ramada all involved small quantities of cannabis, and paraphernalia in some instances. While they are New Zealand citizens, many have not lived in the country for decades. The deportees are known as 501s, after the character section of the Australian Migration Act that allows the cancellation of their visas for past criminal conduct. New Zealand Army personnel guarding the perimeter of the Sudima Hotel at the Christchurch International Airport. The items were destroyed and again no further action was taken.

It duly arrived but the package was searched onsite by police, who found a small amount of cannabis plant and cookies. Police could not prove beyond reasonable doubt the man was to take possession of the meth and he continued to maintain innocence, so no further action was taken besides seizing and destroying the drugs.ĭo you know more? Email April, an occupant of a Sudima isolation hotel ordered cannabis online and arranged for its delivery to the facility.
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“The female has mysteriously returned to get the package back but when told to wait she ran away, likely to a vehicle outside the range of site cameras.” The man denied knowing the package contained class A illicit drugs and instead said he thought it was merely a phone. “They have called the subject down and opened the package in front of him to reveal a glass pipe and approximately 1g of meth,” the police summary said.

Police made enquiries, destroyed the cannabis and took no further action.Ībout a month earlier, a courier package addressed to a male guest was delivered to staff at Auckland's Pullman Hotel by an “unknown female,” according to the police summary of the incident.

The tennis ball incident unfolded at a Grand Mercure isolation hotel, in either Auckland or Wellington – the police logs specify only the hotel name, not the location.ĭefence Force staff phoned police after someone threw a tennis ball onto the smokers’ deck with a small bag of cannabis attached to it, a method of drug delivery sometimes attempted around the perimeter of Kiwi prisons. Security at the Grand Mercure in Wellington.
