A man has been charged with smuggling $10 million worth of drugs after thousands of plastic toys stuffed with a component for making P were stopped on their way to Auckland.
The 25-year-old was arrested on Friday following a crackdown by police and customs on the supply of the class B drug ephedrine to the region.
Police said the drug was hidden inside pallets of plastic toys in a shipping container from China.
They said the total quantity could have been used to produce more than 60 kilograms of methamphetamine, with a street value of $60 million.
The man has been charged with importing a class B controlled drug and will appear at the Auckland District Court today.