Drug researcher believes Mexican cartels are responsible for meth lollipops in New Zealand

Normally the lollipops are produced in Malaysia, but Professor Chris Wilkins, a drug researcher at Massey University, does not believe the drugs come from there.

“Methamphetamine smuggling is increasingly taking place from Mexico, via Mexican cartels.

“They are very dynamic business groups. They spend a lot of time smuggling technology and they are very involved in large-scale production.”

According to Wilkins, smugglers often hide Class A drugs in products or objects before bringing them ashore. But hiding drugs in food and drink can have fatal consequences.

Auckland man Aiden Sagala died in March last year after taking a few sips from a can of what he thought was beer. However, the drink, branded Honey Bear House Beer, actually contained pure liquid methamphetamine.

Like any normal business, Wilkins says, drug cartels are constantly innovating — hiding meth in things like vinegar, furniture and building products. But he believes disguising drugs as lollipops is unique.

“It is quite unusual for it to be in a form that is clearly dangerous to children, and also in the final packaging, because that is where the greatest chance of someone ingesting it is.

“But I think that’s also part of the hiding. That they try to make them look as innocent as possible.”

Wilkins says this also makes it harder for authorities to track it down.

“I think once they develop this method of smuggling, they will try to exploit it as much as possible in different products.

“It creates a real challenge for customs and other organisations, because they may have detection methods such as X-rays and sniffer dogs that this new approach has to overcome.”

But Wilkins says that, like any normal business, accidents happen in cartels, which is how the drugs ended up at the Auckland City Mission.

“There is absolutely no intent to poison the public with methamphetamine through food or household items. They (cartels) would want to intercept that product or those items at the border or cross the border, and for some reason it slipped through, or they mislabeled or lost the shipment.

“People imagine drug trafficking organizations as some kind of mafia or professional criminals, but often there is incompetence, lack of planning and accidents.”

Auckland City Mission says it is aware of one pack of Rinda lollies that was donated, but says it is possible there were more. Wilkins thinks it is safe to assume it was part of a much larger shipment.

Can we expect to see more meth lollipops arriving on our shores? Wilkins says they probably won’t use exactly the same method.

“They now know that this is clearly going to fail with this product, but we know they will try their luck with other products.

“Once they get the hang of it, they can move on to a bunch of different products and see what happens.”