“We have for some time been aware that Mexican and South American cartels are interested in selling their products in New Zealand because of the high retail prices people are continuing to pay.”

There's no evidence to substantiate that any cartels with direct links to South America have set up in New Zealand, but people are sent over to catch imports, says Albie.

Deportations have created strong links with organised groups in Australia, the detective says.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a disruptive effect on drug markets – nightclubs and bars were closed and people around the world were largely living in various states of lockdown.

But despite this, according to data from the 2023 global report on cocaine by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the slump had little impact on long-term trends.

Almost 2000 tonnes of cocaine was produced in 2020, continuing a dramatic uptick in manufacture that began in 2014 when the total was less than half of today’s levels.

​The surge is partly as a result of an expansion in coca bush cultivation which rose sharply in 2021, in parallel with a continuing growth in demand.

That surge is reflected in New Zealand, with interceptions including February’s 3.2 tonnes (3200kg) of the narcotic found floating in the ocean.

The cocaine, worth about $500m, was likely destined for Australia and had been dropped at a transit point in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Then in October, police and customs seized 140kg of cocaine at the Port of Auckland which had come from Ecuador via Panama.

The investigation, codenamed Blanco, identified the trend of organised crime groups aggressively targeting attempts to “rip”, or take possession of, importations while they were transiting through ports or associated facilities.

In November 2022, police and Customs busted another group, but this time they’d managed to get the cocaine past the border. Investigators found about 190kg of cocaine that had been extracted from a boiler from Ecuador.

An increase in Kiwis’ use of cocaine is also reflected in wastewater drug testing, says Albie.

“In recent years we have seen organised crime groups trying to drive up cocaine consumption and at the moment, our wastewater data has revealed a steady increase starting to get to around three kilograms a week. This is still small in comparison to the Australian cocaine market, which is significantly larger.”

In the past six years, NOCG has identified 25 trans-national organised crime operational cells, says Albie.

A cell is a group of foreign nationals, inserted into Aotearoa by a crime gang, to facilitate the import, export and distribution of drugs and then the remittance of profits out of New Zealand.

“This has resulted in people from 20 different countries being charged with serious drug dealing offending. ”

Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs are reportedly one of the key links between South American criminal groups and the Australian and New Zealand drug markets, says the UN office.

Convicted Auckland-based fraudster Miles John McKelvy is fighting extradition to the United States for what’s alleged to be a key role in a conspiracy to import $400kg of cocaine from Peru to New Zealand the US and Romania.

McKelvy was arrested in 2020 as part of a police investigation that also saw the arrests of two New Zealand Hells Angels members in Romania.

The Hells Angels members have been extradited to the United States to face charges by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

McKelvy is set to take his fight for extradition to the Court of Appeal after losing his High Court appeal.