- Carlos Davide Ferreira-Sampaio came to New Zealand to retrieve a package containing 91kg of cocaine, with a potential street value of $27 million.
- It was concealed in two bags stashed under the hull of a container ship.
- He was sentenced to five years and two months.
Facing mounting debts, a Portuguese national found himself in New Zealand trying to retrieve a large shipment of cocaine from a vessel.
Carlos Ferreira-Sampaio, 47, appeared before Justice Jonathan Eaton on a charge of attempting to take possession of a class A drug with the intention of supply in the High Court of Dunedin on Thursday.
The summary of facts said Ferreira-Sampaio was the intermediary for the overseas importers, and was tasked with retrieving the contraband from Melbourne and then Dunedin.
The people above Ferreira-Sampaio in the chain of command had not been identified, the court heard.
Ferreira-Sampaio was previously part of the armed forces, and came into the criminal enterprise after a restaurant business in Portugal and Spain collapsed due to the global pandemic, coupled with his own mounting gambling debts.
The offending began in September 2022, when he left Portugal to help retrieve two duffel bags from the hull of a boat docked in Melbourne.
However tight security dashed that plan, so he flew to Queenstown along with Australian tradie turned stripper, Matthew Hodder, who was jailed for four years and two months.
More at
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350272224/gambling-debts-drove-ex-paratrooper-cocaine-smuggling-plot
