Like many visitors to New Zealand, Boyuan Zhang and his mother Xin Li had wanted to take home some of the country’s greenstone.
However, rather than earrings or a necklace, the pair were stopped at Auckland International Airport with almost 18kg of the valuable stone in their luggage.
This was far from an isolated incident: two months earlier Zhang’s father and Li’s husband were stopped while trying to take two large stones out of New Zealand.
At a combined weight of 61kg, that would be the equivalent of smuggling a short person out of the country.
In 2021 the Customs Export Prohibition (Pounamu) Order regulation came into force, which made unlawful exporting 5kg or more of raw or partly processed stone without permission.
Given the value of nephrite jade — a kilogram of stone can easily fetch thousands if it is top quality, and much more once turned into ornaments or jewellery — it is no surprise that southern rivers and beaches have been plundered.
The smugglers intercepted by Customs are likely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to depredation of pounamu, both with the domestic and overseas market in mind.
The Auckland defendants’ fairly amateur efforts pale in comparison to the seizure by police in Dunedin last year of 820kg of pounamu, cut and ready for sale.
Both enterprises, although different in scale, suggest many people are keen to exploit the natural resources of the South without any care for the rights of the owners.
The Maori name for the South Island, Te Waipounamu, recognises the centrality of greenstone to their culture. It is regarded as taonga, and the Crown recognised that in 1997 when, as part of the Ngāi Tahu Treaty claim settlement the iwi was given ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu to the South Island.
While that ownership comes with obvious commercial opportunities, it has weightier significance than that.
Ngāi Tahu take their kaitiaki responsibility on behalf of everyone seriously, and as well as limiting exploitation of pounamu through a licensing system, also work hard to preserve the remote areas where the best stone is found.
The iwi was delighted with the Auckland prosecution, saying that pounamu was sacred and to try to boost it out of the country in a suitcase stripped away the tikanga, whakapapa, and stories that gave the stone its meaning.
Customs had understood the significance of pounamu and the importance of returning stolen stone, iwi representatives said.
However, the case also underlines the need for a planned review of the pounamu export rules, intended to be done next year.
One of the defences advanced by the Manukau defendants was that they intended to distribute the stone they had into the baggage of other passengers, so as to not breach the 5kg limit.
Notwithstanding that this would suggest a planned effort to circumvent the current law, it does highlight an exploitable loophole which should be closed.
Also, 5kg seems a highly generous allowance for how much stone can be exported without permission.
Public fossicking for pounamu is allowed on West Coast beaches and the 5kg limit was likely set so as to roughly equate to what could be carried in one hand.
That is a decent amount of stone to be brought home as a souvenir though.
Boyuan Zhang and Xin Li have yet to be sentenced. Confiscation of the stone is a given. It is hoped that whatever other penalty may be imposed has a deterrent effect.
Pounamu is precious, even beyond its monetary value, and Customs and the courts are to be applauded for upholding its mana.
