NZ Customs Release

Customs has today returned close to 60 kilograms of pounamu seized at the border to its rightful guardians, Poutini Ngai Tahu (West Coast hapu), in a special ceremony held at Arahura Marae in Hokitika.  

The pounamu, also known as New Zealand greenstone or jade, was intercepted by Customs during separate illegal export attempts, and returned to Poutini Ngai Tahu as part of an ongoing joint commitment to stop the illegal trade of this precious New Zealand taonga (treasure).  

Customs has launched an Alcohol Excise Duty Estimator on the Customs website. This innovative online tool is a one-stop shop for alcohol excise clients to estimate the excise duty, alcohol levy, and GST applicable to alcohol products manufactured in New Zealand for the New Zealand market.
 
The Excise Estimator features a simple user interface and is easy to use. Users can input the volume and strength of alcohol products to obtain an accurate estimation of duty and alcohol levy as well as relevant information from the Excise and Equivalent Duty Tables.

More information can be found on the Customs website.

Financial crime experts from across Asia-Pacific have been welcomed to New Zealand for a three-day workshop on combatting money laundering, terrorism financing and the smuggling of bulk cash, gems and precious metals, which was co-hosted by the New Zealand Customs Service and the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The regional workshop was held from 29 – 31 October in Auckland. Twenty-six delegates representing Customs agencies and financial intelligence units from 14 countries, as well as representatives from INTERPOL and the Egmont Group, were in attendance.

In the past week, Customs has arrested three men from across the country in separate cases relating to child sexual abuse material.

Customs investigations identified the defendants, and that they had travelled from overseas, and each were questioned on arrival into New Zealand.