Stasevskis arrived in New Zealand from Dubai on March 12, and was stopped by Customs at Auckland International Airport. During a search of his luggage, officers found 1.1 kg of methamphetamine hidden within tie boxes and seven baby carriers. This amount has a potential street value of around NZD 1.1 million (€710,000).
According to the investigators, Stasevskis was given the baby carriers and tie boxes along with baby clothing and shoes in Rīga, and he had he agreed to smuggle the drug into New Zealand, where it would be collected and he would then be paid.
"This case is another classic example of an offender who got greedy and acted as a drug courier to get Class A drugs into New Zealand. Customs has many different ways to identify these high risk passengers and stop them at the border."
"Criminals syndicates don’t care about what happens to these drug couriers. These offenders pay the price for their greed, as shown in today’s sentencing," said a New Zealand customs official commenting the case.
