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Kia ora A. Harrison

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), requesting the following information:

Can you please provide the number of prosecutions, and other law enforcement actions (eg. warnings) that resulted from illegal drug interceptions via the mail centre for each year (2016 - 2022)?

Please provide information per year, per drug type, and per law enforcement action; if possible.

Drug seizures at the International Mail Centre are typically low quantities and are sent to fictitious names. These drug seizures can result in an investigation when intelligence analysis identifies a suspect that may be behind many seizures. An investigation into multiple seizures can result in one or more people being charged with many drug imports. In some investigations there is more than one commodity or import stream; meaning a suspect might be charged with drugs imported through the International Mail Centre and in air cargo. There are also instances of suspects being investigated for tobacco smuggling but the investigation also identified drug imports in mail items and we charged the suspect for those drugs imports too. These investigations might be reported as tobacco investigations or air cargo investigations but would involve charges for International Mail Centre drug seizures.

Customs has identified that your request, in its current form, will likely be refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as it will require substantial collation and research to fulfil. A preliminary assessment undertaken by Customs’ staff has determined that to find the information in scope, it would require the manual review and identification of 169 investigation files to establish what information is in scope. This involves identifying the investigations where a seizure at the International Mail Centre is involved, and what actions were taken as a result. This is estimated to take approximately 70 to 80 minutes per file.

As such, Customs is inviting you to refine the scope of your request. How you choose to do this is up to you, however you may wish to consider refining the time frame to the past year or a certain year of interest to you. Alternatively, you may wish to refer to the Drug Seizures dashboard on the Customs’ website, which shows the number of seizures by location and drug type. This can be found here – https://www.customs.govt.nz/about-us/sta....

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact Customs by email at [email address].

Ngâ mihi nui

Correspondence, Reviews, and Ministerial Servicing | Kaitohutohu Matua Arotake Whakawhitiwhiti, Take Minita New Zealand Customs Service | Te Mana Ârai o Aotearoa

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Kia ora A. Harrison

Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), requesting the following information:

”Can you please provide the number of prosecutions, and other law enforcement actions (eg. warnings) that resulted from illegal drug interceptions via the mail centre for each year (2016 - 2022)?"

"Please provide information per year, per drug type, and per law enforcement action; if possible."

On 7 August 2023, the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) asked you to refine the scope of your request. As of 23 August 2023, Customs has not received a response.

As such, Customs is refusing your request under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.

If you are not satisfied with my response, you have the right, by way of complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman under sect ion 28(3) of the Act, to seek an investigation and review of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available online at: http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/ or you can phone 0800 802 602.

Ngâ mihi nui

Correspondence, Reviews, and Ministerial Servicing | Kaitohutohu Matua Arotake Whakawhitiwhiti, Take Minita New Zealand Customs Service | Te Mana Ârai o Aotearoa

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