18 | FEATURE
We all know that the cross border movement of people, goods, and craft happen at international airports, ports, and marinas. But beyond the border, have you considered that storage sites can, and are, being exploited as part of an illicit supply chain to facilitate smuggling?
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he New Zealand Customs Service maintains a close relationship with the Self Storage Association of Australasia as part of its industry network. It has an outreach program to raise awareness amongst its members about this risk to its members and the public in being unwittingly drawn into serious criminal offending. This is an internationally known trend, not just relating to New Zealand and Australia. Bruce Berry, NZ Customs Manager Investigations, said that several recent investigations, for both smuggled illegal drugs and tobacco led his team to storage units that were utilised to store the importation and packaging for further domestic distribution. NZ Customs’ biggest tobacco investigation in late 2018 led to over 1.3 million cigarettes located at numerous storage units, along with
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bags containing millions of dollars of cash. Similarly, some of New Zealand’s largest drug seizures in 2019 – 469 kg methamphetamine in electric motors, 110 kg methamphetamine in golf cart batteries, and up to 100kg methamphetamine in plastic pallets – all had links in the use of storage sites. “What we’re seeing is that storage sites are being manipulated by transnational criminal syndicates as part of their modus operandi in staging the storage and deconstruction of some very sophisticated concealments containing illicit goods smuggled in the country. There’s a genuine need for storage unit owners and operators to be aware of this and be on the lookout. “As the owner or operator of a storage unit, you will know best what is normal and what seems out of the ordinary. We’ve spoken to storage unit operators following investigations, and often hear them acknowledge that some things just hadn’t seemed
right from the start. My message is – if it feels suspicious – get in touch with authorities as soon as possible,” Mr. Berry says. One indicator alone does not indicate illegal activity, but a combination may mean authorities want to take a closer look and make assessments. “It is important that you do not become involved yourself. Share with us as much detail as possible, such as about the people, vehicles or shipping containers if known – and let us do the intelligence work in the background to assess the risk further. Often we can work in the background and see things that may not be apparent. Any information received will be confidential and your privacy will be protected.” “Even if you’ve not become aware or suspicious until after the unit has been vacated, we still want to know so we can use this to build on our intelligence,
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