A Nepalese man who came to New Zealand as a student and struggled to find employment in his chosen field after completing his studies eventually became involved in importing cocaine, after falling into financial difficulty, as reported by NZ Herald.
Anurag Maskey, now 27, arrived in New Zealand in May 2018 when he was 19 years old. He completed a diploma in information technology but, despite his qualification, worked in several unskilled labouring jobs while attempting to secure employment in the IT sector.
As reported by the NZ Herald, Maskey later found himself facing increasing financial difficulties, while attempts to establish his own business were also failing. It was during this period that another Nepalese man entered his life and offered him financial assistance.
The Court of Appeal, in a recently published decision, said it was “reasonable to assume that his financial support for Mr Maskey was part of manipulating him in his drug importation operation”.
Maskey was living in Mt Eden, Auckland, at the time. According to the NZ Herald, he eventually became involved in receiving or arranging the receipt of six known packages containing cocaine, with most shipments coming from the United Kingdom and another involving a supplier in Nepal.
The drugs were concealed in a range of seemingly ordinary items, including machinery parts, a motorcycle shock absorber, wood samples, melamine veneers and commercial catalogues. The NZ Herald reported that the concealment methods were designed to allow the cocaine to enter New Zealand without immediately being detected.
In one shipment, Maskey was required to use an angle grinder to extract a hidden package containing cocaine.
From low-level catcher to organiser
Maskey initially became involved in the drug operation as a low-level “catcher”, responsible for receiving consignments. However, his role expanded after the man who had introduced him to the operation left New Zealand in April 2022.
According to the NZ Herald, Maskey subsequently took on a more significant organising role within the operation. By the time police caught him, he was involved in arranging and redirecting consignments, organising their collection and extracting the concealed cocaine.
He was also involved in testing the purity of the cocaine and discussing how it should be mixed with other substances before being sold.
When police searched Maskey’s home, they discovered 219 grams of cocaine inside a ziplock bag, along with other bags containing white powder residue and electronic scales. The findings formed part of the evidence against him.
The NZ Herald reported that evidence recovered from Maskey’s phone also showed communications relating to drug importation. Messages included discussions with a supplier in Nepal, photographs of packages and their contents, details of consignments and tracking numbers, as well as information relating to a cocaine purity testing kit.
Maskey eventually pleaded guilty to five charges of importing cocaine. In March last year, the Auckland District Court sentenced him to six years and four months in prison.
Court considers his vulnerability
Maskey appealed against his sentence, arguing that the original punishment did not sufficiently account for the circumstances in which he became involved in the offending.
The Court of Appeal has now accepted that he should have received greater sentencing credit for what it described as the “very human dynamic” involved in his case.
The court considered Maskey’s age and circumstances when he first became involved with his mentor. He was only 22 at the time, which the court regarded as that of an “emerging adult”.
According to the NZ Herald's report on the appeal decision, the court also considered that Maskey’s fledgling business was clearly struggling and that he was vulnerable to exploitation. His desire to secure financial investment from his associate was another factor considered by the judges.
Maskey was reportedly keen to win his associate’s favour in the hope of obtaining financial support for his business.
“It was on that basis that he became involved [in the offending], perhaps initially blind to the serious consequences,” the appeal court justices said.
The court’s comments focused on the circumstances surrounding Maskey’s entry into the offending while still taking into account the seriousness of his later role in the drug operation.
The NZ Herald reported that, by the time he was arrested, Maskey was no longer simply acting as a recipient of packages. His responsibilities had expanded to include organising consignments, managing collections and handling cocaine after it arrived in New Zealand.
Sentence reduced
After considering the circumstances of the offending and Maskey’s personal situation, the Court of Appeal reduced his sentence from six years and four months to five years and seven months in prison.
The reduction does not change his guilty pleas to five cocaine-importation charges or the nature of the offending for which he was convicted.
The case also highlights the circumstances that can surround young migrants who arrive in New Zealand with educational and career expectations but struggle to establish themselves financially. In Maskey’s case, the court found that his financial vulnerability and relationship with his mentor were relevant to the sentencing assessment.
At the same time, the court considered the progression of his involvement, which eventually went beyond simply receiving packages and included organising consignments and handling cocaine.
According to the NZ Herald, Maskey will be deported from New Zealand after completing his prison sentence.
The case ultimately combines two very different parts of his time in New Zealand: an initial attempt to build a career after studying information technology and a later progression into serious drug offending. The Court of Appeal’s decision has now reduced his sentence after considering the circumstances surrounding how he became involved, while leaving the convictions themselves in place.
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