Cocaine bust

Operation Mist National Organised Crime Group director Detective Superintendent Greg Williams told media this afternoon that so far about 50kg of cocaine has been seized either here in New Zealand or overseas ports.

The media stand-up comes after seven search warrants were executed yesterday in Canterbury which resulted in eight arrests, including six Colombian nationals and one Argentinean national. One other person in Auckland was arrested.

According to a police statement forensic work was still ongoing but initial assessments indicate that onboard the yacht is a commercial shipment of several hundred kilogrammes of cocaine.

Solomon Islands police boarded the Vieux Malin - a double-masted yacht- yesterday morning outside the Honiara marina after receiving information from Australian authorities.

The cocaine was concealed in a cavity behind a false wall panel in the interior of the yacht.

Forty kilogrammes of cocaine were found earlier this month on the same island.

The defence force said more than 12 kilogrammes of the drug was found on the island in the Lau group last week.

A New Zealand navy ship is helping Fiji patrol its waters and it moved in after a request from Fiji's customs agency.

An earlier 40 kilogramme cocaine haul is estimated to be worth about $US15 million.

An Australian couple have also appeared in court for smuggling 15 kilograms of cocaine and $US10 to 15 million worth of ecstasy into Fiji.

Australian Aukuso Junior Paulo, 34, and New Zealander Kigi Kamuta, 39, were two of three men arrested while travelling with two semi-automatic weapons and A$650,000 (NZ$712,000) in cash, during a planned police operation in the eastern suburbs park.

A third man, Royce Royal Hura, 27, was also arrested at the scene. Both Hura and Paulo were former players of the Parramatta Eels rugby league club in the NRL.