A Tongan baggage handler has been sentenced to home detention for his role in a botched attempt to import nearly $8 million worth of methamphetamine during Auckland’s Covid-19 lockdown.
George Taukolo previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to import methamphetamine and was sentenced earlier this month to 12 months of home detention at Manukau District Court. His two other co-accused, Daniel Ah Hong and Mark Castillo received the same sentence.
Taukolo’s sentence came after Tongan muso, Romney Fukofuka, who is also known by his stage name Konecs travelled back in May 2020 from the United States with 19.4kg of methamphetamine stashed in a suitcase.
Fukofuka lived a ‘gangster’ life and was an aspiring musician who released a number of music videos online. One of his most popular releases was the Tongan song Si’oto Loto which garnered more than 4 million viewers on YouTube.
Taukolo and his co-accused were supposed to collect the suitcase off a conveyor belt at Auckland Airport, and were told they would be paid NZ$20,000 for doing so.
While they said they didn’t know what was in the suitcase, they previously admitted that they believed it could be drugs.
Fukofuka sent a message during his return voyage, saying he had “made a mistake” and was carrying a bag with him on board the plane, rather than checking it in.
Later police seized the phones of the three men, as well as others involved in the importation, and the three men were arrested.
Fukofuka pleaded guilty in September to charges of importing nearly 20kg of methamphetamine from the US, attempting to import another 15kg and offering to supply the Class A drug.
He is on bail so he can complete a drug rehabilitation programme before the sentence hearing next year.
