Grant Jeffrey Beale, 58, appeared in the Dunedin District Court this week after pleading guilty to importing the class-A drug, supplying it and offering to supply.
It was not as though the 501 deportee was the kingpin of the operation, funding a lifestyle of luxury — he had been living in a boarding house and stood to make only $10,000 from the "risky" enterprise.
While the drug consignment landed in Dunedin on July 12 last year, the collapse of the illicit operation began six days earlier.
That day, Customs intercepted a 13kg package destined for Auckland, listed as containing "halle bone curette fiber handle", seemingly orthopaedic surgical instruments.
But once the parcel was opened, officers discovered nearly 2kg of methamphetamine.
The drug haul then led them to Beale.
Customs records showed a near-identical package had been delivered to a Dunedin address on July 12 last year.
It had the same gross weight, supplier, contact number and consignment description as the Auckland one.
Inquiries revealed the parcel had been sent to a Dunedin backpackers, addressed to "Marcell Cogan" — a fictitious name.
Behind the scenes, Beale had arranged for another man to be paid $5000 to retrieve the meth, which had a street value of up to $500,000.
Court documents noted the defendant was receiving orders from those higher up the chain and was not involved in organising the shipment.
He also had nothing to do with the Auckland incident.
Beale’s intercepted cellphone messages revealed what happened in the following weeks.
He told an associate the "gear is fine not chunky" before asking him to delete their correspondence.
Much of Beale’s subsequent communications were shrouded in a thinly veiled code language, discussing "3 quarter drive 21mm".
"I’ll send car to same mechanic as last time yes I think they done good job," he wrote.
While it was obvious to police that Beale was referencing three-quarters of an ounce of meth (21g), it was evidently too cryptic for his counterpart.
"You lost me mate? Don’t think that message was for me," the man wrote.
Beale later received texts from another party, speaking about half a ton of "wood".
The following day, though, the charade was dropped as the drug buyer criticised the quality of the supposed timber.
"It’s orange," the customer sent.
"My pipes all black at bottom ... wheres the good dry rock we got at start." (sic)
Counsel Sarah Saunderson-Warner stressed Beale’s role was "effectively operational than managerial" and was motivated by his addiction.
The defendant had a background of trauma and deprivation, though he had had periods of steady employment through his life.
"Negative impacts have kept coming back to haunt him as the years have gone on," Ms Saunderson-Warner said.
Judge David Robinson noted Beale had no previous New Zealand convictions but was deported from Australia after being charged with possessing dangerous drugs.
The 52-year-old man tasked with collecting the methamphetamine will appear in court in November.
