A Port of Tauranga stevedore has been jailed for two years and nine months for his role in a Mexican cartel linked plot to smuggle 200kg of cocaine into New Zealand.

Maurice Swinton received the sentence at the High Court in Rotorua on Friday after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to import cocaine, which has a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

According to the police summary of facts, Swinton expected to be paid $250,000 and one kilogram of cocaine for his participation in the plot.

In intercepted communications Swinton described his role as 'pick up, go smoko, go home”.

Sentencing Swinton, Justice Graham Lang said the eight men involved in the plot had initially expected 200kg of cocaine to arrive in a container at the Port of Tauranga.

Former Port of Tauranga stevedore Maurice Swinton was told he would be paid $250,000, plus one kilogram of cocaine, for his role in the Mexican cartel linked plot. Photo: Benn Bathgate/Stuff.

'Your role would be to retrieve the drugs from the vessel when it arrived,” he said.

However, Lang said the drugs never arrived, though smaller packages containing cocaine were sent to a number of suburban addresses in both Rotorua and Auckland.

According to the summary of facts, police had been listening into the private communications of co-conspirators Tangaroa Demant, Tama Waitai and Mexican national Angel Gabriel Gavito Alverado.

In court documents related to Alverado, who was jailed for three years and eight months back in November 2022 for his role, he was described as 'the New Zealand based representative of the Mexican drug suppliers”.

The bugged communications revealed 'a group of individuals led by the defendant Demant had reached an agreement to import a large quantity of cocaine into New Zealand, concealed inside a shipping container”.

Angel Gavito Alverado, described as the New Zealand-based representative of the Mexican drug cartel, was jailed for his role in November last year. Photo: Benn Bathgate/Stuff.

The group recruited Swinton and he 'agreed to use his position and knowledge of the port to access and remove the cocaine from the shipping container before it could be potentially searched by New Zealand Customs Service staff”.

The intercepted communications revealed the group expected the shipment to arrive on March 27, 2021, 'but they were thwarted by their Mexican OCG [organised criminal group] deciding to delay the delivery”.

The communications also revealed Demant and Waitai were involved in other drug offending.

”This included multiple cocaine importations originating from the same Mexican based suppliers, that arrived in New Zealand by courier mail.”

The summary also revealed Demant had told his whanau and friends he was overseas sailing for an extended period, when in fact he was living on his boat ‘Good Times' in Whangaroa Harbour in Northland, using encrypted communications to hold 'ongoing conversations with Mexican based drug suppliers”.

”During these calls the defendants Waitai and Demant discussed a variety of facets of a plan to import a large quantity of cocaine into New Zealand. . . this included the price and quality of the product, the means of getting it to New Zealand and then how to circumvent New Zealand Customs Service checks on its arrival.”

The summary also revealed Demant planned to travel to Mexico himself, and had even secured a stay in a quarantine facility for his return to New Zealand.

Swinton was also asked by Demant and Waitai to approach other individuals at the Port, as he did not work on the side of the Port they expected the cocaine to arrive at.

Remarkably too, the intercepted phone calls also revealed Demant and Waitai began to discuss not paying the Mexican cartel for the drugs.

'The pair discussed their intention that once they received a large importation of controlled drugs from the Mexican OCG, they would take the drugs and then not make the required payment for them to the Mexican OCG.”

Later conversations revealed that while numerous discussions were held about importing 200kg of cocaine, 'there is no evidence that the drugs were in fact put on a ship and no evidence that money was paid by the defendant Demant to the Mexican OCG”.

By March 23, 2022, Demant had told the group to 'standdown” and that he was 'not going to make it happen”.

While no further attempt to secure the drugs was made, the summary noted Demant 'was still communicating with the Mexican suppliers”.

Both Demant and Waitai have entered guilty pleas to a number of charges, but have yet to be sentenced.

-Benn Bathgate/Stuff.