A 54-year-old Wellington grandmother, who was yesterday jailed for 6-1/2 years on drugs charges learnt her trade working for the Mr Asia syndicate in the 1970s.

Susan Florence Horrobin, of Johnsonville, was arrested after arriving at Wellington airport from Auckland with a padlocked suitcase containing 220g of methamphetamine on August 31.

Horrobin, who has a four-year-old grandson, was sentenced in the High Court at Wellington yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to possessing and suppplying drugs.

The court was told that Horrobin was sentenced to eight years in a Fiji jail in 1978 for attempting to smuggle two kilograms of heroin and 20kg of Indian hemp or cannabis into Nadi Airport in locked suitcases.

The Dominion Post reported today that back then Horrobin was a minor figure in the Mr Asia syndicate, which was run by New Zealanders Terry Clark and Martin Johnson.

Retired officer Brears Basham, who worked on the Mr Asia investigation, said the way Horrobin packed her suitcase when she was caught in August was similar to the methods used by the Mr Asia syndicate.

Yesterday she cried as she was sentenced for the largest domestic seizure of methamphetamine in Wellington's policing history.

A search of her home after her arrest at the airport uncovered 43 LSD tablets and phone records confirmed methamphetamine sales.

Defence lawyer Keith Jefferies said Horrobin was living in a state house, had few assets and was making little money from her activities.

"She entered the world of addiction, became entangled and discovered that escape was very difficult. She now suffers the unpleasant circumstances," Mr Jefferies told the court.

Justice Joe Williams told Horrobin that he did not accept she was just a drug courier but believed she had connections high up in the drug chain.

"For much of your adult life your experience has been one of a person who is drug dependent and out of control. Your offending has wrecked not just your own family but other families as well."

Judge Williams acknowledged that Horrobin was drug free for 17 years and that when she put her mind to it, she was capable of achieving great things.

But he said somewhere between then and now, Horrobin had "lost the plot".