Southern District field crime manager Detective Inspector Stu Harvey said Dunedin’s Organised Crime team alongside other police yesterday executed a number of search warrants in the Dunedin area.
They seized the drugs along with a pistol and approximately $20,000 in cash, Det Insp Harvey said.
Four men aged 25, 26, 29 and 45 were arrested and face a number of charges relating to the production, possession and supply of class A, B and C drugs, he said.
"These arrests and the seizure of drugs from this operation will have a significant effect on supply in Dunedin and will reduce harm."
The men were due to appear in Dunedin District Court today.
"Police will continue to target and prosecute people who profit off of peddling misery in our communities."
A large amount of the drugs supplied were being sold as MDMA (ecstasy), however some was believed to be eutylone.
Eutylone is a stimulant drug in the synthetic cathinone family and is known to be sold and taken as MDMA as it mimics the effects.
This drug has recently been linked to a number of hospital admissions throughout New Zealand.
The Otago Daily Times reported last month drug testing as a part of O Week in Dunedin had found about 69% of the samples tested on one night and thought to be MDMA were in fact a substitute, typically a drug from the cathinone family.
Purchasing or buying synthetic cathinones (as a pill, capsule or powder) greatly increases the chances of accidental overdose. This is because synthetic cathinones are active in lower doses, for some this can be as low as 10mg which is a tenth of MDMA. If someone takes synthetic cathinones in an MDMA-sized dose, it can have fatal
consequences.
"It is important to remember that illicit drugs are generally manufactured or imported by people who put profit above all else and do not consider the health and wellbeing of users."
