Just over 2 kg of cannabis found in NZ cargo at Aitutaki's Arutanga port
Cook Islands Customs found just over 2 kg of cannabis concealed in cargo from New Zealand at the port in Arutanga, Aitutaki, on 7 August 2024. Police flew detectives from Rarotonga with search warrants and said they were investigating a drug supply to the island.
🇳🇿 Arutanga Harbour, Aitutaki, Cook Islands · New Zealand
Cook Islands Customs officers found just over 2 kg of cannabis in cargo from New
Zealand during a search at the port in Arutanga on Aitutaki on Wednesday 7
August 2024.[1]Cook Islands Customs seized over two kilograms of cannabis at
Arutanga Harbour, and police opened an investigation into a drug supply to
Aitutaki.[2]Police were notified of the seizure and Rarotonga detectives were
flown to the island the next day with search warrants.[1]
Detective Inspector Areumu Ingaua, commander of the Criminal Investigation
Branch, credited the Customs service’s diligence in securing the border and said
police were confident of a positive outcome.[1]The ministry said the
operation was a joint effort by Customs in Aitutaki and Rarotonga and the
police, with further updates to follow.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Cook Islands News article is behind a subscription notice, so only its opening paragraph could be read; further detail comes from the ministry statement.
No arrests, charges or named suspects are reported in the opened accounts; police said investigations were ongoing.
The ministry statement is dated 19 August 2024 but gives the seizure as Wednesday 7 August; the police searches are undated beyond being carried out the following Thursday.
The Cook Islands has no id in the tracker's country registry, so the New Zealand id is used as in other Cook Islands reports.
No street value or weight beyond just over 2 kg is published.
Christchurch District Court Judge Quentin Hix sentenced 54-year-old Damon Redshaw without prison after police found 234 grams of cannabis in his crashed vehicle, along with a sawn-off .22 rifle, ammunition and a methamphetamine vape.
Police and Customs in Canterbury arrested four men aged 27 to 35 and remanded them in custody after a joint investigation that intercepted drug shipments at the border and searched properties across the region. Alongside cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and other drugs, investigators seized 3 kg of cannabis, more than $500,000 in cash and a 3D-printed firearm.
A week-long Australia–New Zealand operation in September 2026 carried out 85 search warrants in New Zealand and arrested 34 people. Police seized 270 kg of loose cannabis and 6,183 plants, along with methamphetamine, opium, MDMA, cash and firearms. The cannabis came from grow houses in Auckland linked to Vietnamese organised crime.
Police announced on 25 August 2026 that a 10-month investigation had shut down a Vietnamese-organised cannabis grow-house syndicate in Auckland. Twelve people were arrested in 19 raids; police seized about NZ$1.25 million of cultivation equipment, 35 kg of cannabis and NZ$80,000 in cash.
