AUCKLAND: One of the men accused of smuggling millions of dollars of cocaine into New Zealand in a diamanté-encrusted horse head says he thought there was cash inside.
American Ronald Cook has taken the stand in his defence on Wednesday morning at the Auckland High Court and insisted he had no knowledge drugs were inside the horse head.
He, along with Mexican Agustin Suarez-Juarez, are charged with importing and possessing 35 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $14 million.
Cook said he thought cash was inside the horse head and admitted he would’ve been committing money laundering.
Cook said the money was to be used to set up a business to import and distribute flooring insulation products in New Zealand.
Cook’s defence lawyer, Sam Wimsett, told the High Court Cook was no drug dealer.
“He was ashamed, he was weak, he was manipulated.”
Wimsett told the jury to put aside any ideas they had of Cook being a drug kingpin.
“He is an ordinary family man with an ordinary life and a Netflix series about him would be quite boring.”
The jewelled horse head arrived in New Zealand from Mexico via Hong Kong on May 10, 2016. The drugs were picked up by a drug detector dog, and that’s when Customs officers found 35 packages of cocaine inside the statue.
The packages were removed and replica packages were replaced. The horse head was then packaged up to make it look as though it hadn’t been tampered with, and the statue moved through Customs as originally planned.
The Crown claims Suarez-Juarez and Cook then arrived from Hawaii under the pretence of visiting for a holiday to go diving. They were under police surveillance from their arrival until their departure.
The pair then organised movers to transport the 400kg horse head to a property in Te Atatu on June 4, and the following day they returned to the US.
Crown prosecutor David Stevens says they returned to New Zealand about a month later, telling Immigration officers they were back for business and intended to meet with the Chamber of Commerce.
“The Crown says this was to establish cover for the trip. But the Crown believes the only purpose was to access the cocaine.”
The pair instead travelled to the Te Atatu property to unpack the horse head.
“Police audio recording devices confirm power tools were used, and they also discussed a meeting with a prospective buyer, a person they called David.”
The Crown says Suarez-Juarez and Cook then travelled to their accommodation at the Crowne Plaza in central Auckland taking some of the drugs with them.
They were spotted meeting “David” in the lobby, and checked out shortly after.
The Crown alleges their quick exit was because they discovered the tracking device.
“A Customs officer later found the plastic brick, the polystyrene and the tracking device. The package had been cut across the middle”.
“[Suarez-Juarez and Cook] knew there was a problem and immediately checked out and tried to leave New Zealand.”
Both were then arrested at Auckland Airport’s departure lounge trying to leave for the US.
