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Horse head hides a secret

New Zealand Customs Department have recorded a massive win in the war against drugs, locating and seizing approx 35 kilograms of cocaine that was imported in a fabulous diamond encrusted horses head.

The black diamonte coated sculpture was air freighted into New Zealand from Mexico, weighing approx 400 kilograms.  Inside the head lay thirty five bricks of high grade cocaine worth an estimated $14 million New Zealand dollars.

New Zealand Police arrested a 44-year-old Mexican National along with a 56 year-old US National as they were attempting to board a flight to Hawaii. Both men have been charged with importing and possession of a Class A drug.  Importing a Class A drug into New Zealand usually attracts a life prison sentence.

This huge find is extremely significant to New Zealand Customs, as previous finds of cocaine were a lot smaller. The total amount of cocaine seized in 2015 was a mere 1.5 kilograms.

Detective Senior Sergeant Colin Parmenter, Officer in Charge, Organised Crime Auckland said “This is obviously an extremely large amount of cocaine, and in the past we’ve only found very small amounts of this drug. Prior to this, the average amount of cocaine seized by Police each year was around 250 grams. What this find tells us though is that there is obviously a demand for it. While it’s possible that this statue may have been sent on to another country, but there’s every possibility that the cocaine was destined for the New Zealand market and we would be naïve to think otherwise.”

As investigations continue, NZ Police are not ruling out any further arrests.

This isn’t the first time we’ve reported on drugs being stuffed into horse statues .. Back in February, the Australian Border Force discovered eleven kilograms of methamphetamine in horse statues in Melbourne.