Cocaine worth an estimated $242 million on the street has been seized in New Zealand over the past decade and, with use doubling in recent times, the motivation for dealers is increasing.

That figure, however, doesn't include the latest record haul of 700kg seized in March 2022.

Stuff can reveal just how much cocaine has been seized thanks to an Official Information Act request filed with police, which revealed how much of the drug both police and NZ Customs have seized from 2012 to 2021.

Data was also provided for the largest five single seizures by police and the location the drugs were found over that period, with the 2017 seizure of 46kg of cocaine in Mt Maunganui topping the list.

In total over the last decade, police seized 91.43kg, while Customs seized 447.83kg.

The high-water mark for seizures was 2018, when a combined 212.6kg was seized, with Customs alone scooping up 210.82kg of the drug. By contrast in 2015, just 0.13kg was seized.

The figures are a stark pointer for just how varied both smuggling attempts and the criminals behind them are.

Past cocaine seizures can be linked to plots as simple as posting small quantities of the drug to suburban addresses – or syndicates that can include former Special Forces soldiers and 501s adopting James Bond-style tactics to bring in $20m worth of cocaine.

It can also be as simple as stuffing imported machinery with $38m worth of cocaine.

'Historically Customs has seen both smaller scale consignments of cocaine smuggled in by various means, with occasional larger scale imports and seizures being made generally via sea freight,” said Customs manager of investigations Cam Moore.

'The theme has remained relatively consistent over recent times,” he said.

'The size of seizure does not necessarily dictate the level of organised criminal activity involved.”

Police were unable to say how many foreign nationals have been charged or jailed for cocaine crimes in New Zealand, as their data 'does not distinguish whether offenders are foreign nationals or not”, but Moore said the fact the drug is only produced overseas makes foreign involvement inevitable.

Mexican national Angel Gavito Alverado, 28, was jailed for three years and eight months in November for his role in a Cartel-linked syndicate that planned to smuggle 200kg of cocaine into the Port of Tauranga. Photo: Benn Bathgate/Stuff.

Stuff is aware of a Mexican working as a panel beater in New Zealand, Australian 501s and Eastern European former Special Forces soldiers all serving jail time here for their roles in various importation schemes.

'Given cocaine, by its nature, is not produced in Aotearoa New Zealand, all product seized here is linked to some form of foreign involvement, either by opportunist importers or organised criminal groups,” Moore said.

He said that unsurprisingly, typically the larger the seizure, the more likelihood of organised criminal group involvement.

Some insight into how these groups work was provided by Superintendent Greg Williams, director of the National Organised Crime Group.

He said New Zealand's cocaine market was 'comparatively small in relation to other countries, but wastewater testing shows that it has recently doubled from approximately half a kilo to a kilo a week being consumed”.

National Organised Crime Group director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams said police had identified and dismantled 24 transnational organised crime group cells linked to cocaine importation in New Zealand. Photo: Abigail Dougherty/Stuff.

Operation Heracles, which terminated in 2017, disrupted what he described as a 'typical” Transnational Organised Crime (TNOC) group.

'In this model, a TNOC group inserts people into NZ, organises the imports of illicit drugs, seeks out local distribution networks and then moves the profit out of New Zealand,” he said.

'To date the National Organised Crime Group, in partnership with Customs and supported by our international partners, has identified and dismantled 24 of these TNOC cells.

'Police believe that TNOC groups are also intent on bringing cocaine into New Zealand for the purpose of shipping it to Australia where the market and potential for profit is significant.”

Moore said the most recent, record-breaking seizure of 700kg was likely destined for Australia too.

'Customs believes the more than 700 kilograms of cocaine seized at the Port of Tauranga earlier this year was not likely destined to remain in New Zealand,” he said.

'This extremely significant drug seizure of a cocaine shipment, which was tracked from South America earlier this year and intercepted at the Tauranga Port, highlights how transnational organised crime groups are actively trying to exploit Aotearoa New Zealand for the sorts of profits that can be made here, and also to use New Zealand to potentially access other drug markets.”

Moore said that seizure was estimated to have a potential street value of around $280m and the potential to produce around seven million 'individual doses” at 0.1g.

Why New Zealand is on the radar of both South American cartels and organised crime groups is clear, too.

'It is well understood that Aotearoa New Zealand is among countries, including Australia and Japan, with some of the highest street prices for certain controlled drugs, of which two are cocaine and methamphetamine,” Moore said.

One of the 1kg bricks of high purity cocaine seized by police in 2018. Detective Sergeant Andrew Dunhill later told Stuff the 'BMW' stamp enabled the cartel to identify the product as their own, which he described as "out and out marketing." Photo: Supplied.

'While this makes Aotearoa New Zealand an attractive market for organised criminal groups, Customs works very closely with both domestic and international partners, including NZ Police and the National Organised Crime Group, sharing information and intelligence to identify, prevent, and disrupt organised criminal groups from bringing harmful drugs into Aotearoa New Zealand.”

What's less clear is how much cocaine makes it past authorities.

'It's difficult to know how much cocaine might make it into Aotearoa New Zealand, but wastewater analysis would suggest there is relatively low levels of cocaine consumption here,” said Moore.

According to the most recent data from the police National Wastewater Testing programme, which cover 75 per cent of the population, for the first quarter of 2022, an average of 0.5kg of cocaine was consumed each week, with Auckland seeing the most cocaine use per capita.

The wastewater data analysis also sheds light on the huge amounts of money to be made from cocaine importation, noting 'approximately $0.2 million per week was generated from cocaine distribution across New Zealand sample sites in Q1 2022”.

Benn Bathgate/Stuff