- A six-part drama series will cover a failed meth importation at Ninety Mile Beach in 2016
- The “comedy of errors” was one of New Zealand’s largest meth busts
- Eight people were sent to prison for their role in the failed import
Filming will start next week on a drama series about a failed methamphetamine importation at Ninety Mile Beach (Te One-roa-a-Tōhē) in the Far North.
The June 2016 importation of 501kg of the class A drug was the country’s largest meth bust at the time.
Eight people were sent to prison for decades for their role in the importation.
NZ Police / Supplied
The half-tonne of methamphetamine seized by police in 2016 was one of the country’s biggest drug busts.
The six-part drama series is being produced by Shortland Street makers South Pacific Pictures, along with White Balance Pictures.
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It was co-written by director David White, whose most recent work is black comedy feature film This Town, which received favoured reviews despite its promo tour being disrupted by Covid-19.
The series, called Far North, will focus on a 70-year-old diesel mechanic who helped crack the meth plot, and how the importation worth half a billion dollars came unstuck with a comically inept gang.
The bizarre story was outlined in a six-week trial in the High Court in Whangārei in 2019, where Stevie Cullen and Selaima Fakaosilea were found guilty of importing meth and participating in an organised criminal gang.
David White/Stuff
Stevie Cullen and Selaima Fakaosilea were found guilty of importing meth and participating in an organised criminal gang, after a six-week trial in the High Court in Whangārei.
Fakaosilea, a close relative of All Blacks great Jonah Lomu, later had her sentence reduced by three years but was denied a chance to appeal her conviction to the Supreme Court.
The import unfolded like a comedy of errors as high swells at Ahipara undid attempts to launch a boat to reach a “mother ship” anchored off Northland’s coast.
A second boat was bought with shoebox of cash to ferry the drugs ashore and later abandoned on Ninety Mile Beach, where police found 52kg of meth buried in sand dunes, alongside 449kg found in a campervan.
It held the title of New Zealand’s largest meth bust for six years, until 613kg of meth was seized at Auckland Airport in March.
Five men attempting to launch this fibreglass boat at Shipwreck Bay in 2016 caught the attention of locals, who turned amateur detectives to help bring down the major drug import.
South Pacific Pictures head of communications, Rachael Keereweer, said filming for Far North will start in Ahipara and surrounds next week.
The crew will be in the area for seven weeks, and will then spend a further seven weeks shooting in studios in Auckland.
Far North will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in New Zealand, as well as screening on several international platforms, but a date for its airing has not been set yet, Keereweer said.
In its early phases, the drama was written as a feature film, but it has been through many changes since then, she said.
The series has received funding from Te Puna Kairangi Premium Fund, which aims to help Aotearoa’s production sector recover from Covid-19, as well as several international contributors, Keereweer said.
The actors involved in the production remain a closely guarded secret at this stage.
