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How former Super League star and New Zealand international was caught importing meth

Manu Vatuvei Salford
Manu Vatuvei faces life imprisonment for the importing of methamphetamine, but the details haven’t really been made public until now.

Vatuvei was already long retired before October 2019, but it was a private video with his older brother that eventually incriminated the powerhouse winger.

The duo were unboxing hair ties and other accessories, until they “then sort through the packages before removing nine packets of methamphetamine concealed in cardboard packaging”, authorities said.

Both Vatuvei and his brother Lopini Lautau Mafi could face life imprisonment as both pleaded guilty to importing the Class A drug.

For Vatuvei and his brother, however, they had been under scrutiny for a long time regarding their exploits through a police and Customs investigation called Operation Clydesdale.

“Operation Clydesdale demonstrates that … Mafi was chief in organising the importation of methamphetamine into New Zealand,” states a partially redacted agreed summary of facts released by the court.

“… Vatuvei, on instruction from the defendant Mafi, assisted with import arrangements (particularly making inquiries about imported packages and directing others).”

Court documents revealed that the former Kiwi winger was directly involved in two of the imports, with one of the packages labelled “sporting kits” that instead held 487g of methamphetamine hidden inside skipping rope handles.

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