A North Wellington man has been jailed for 11 years and 11 months for commercial methamphetamine dealing, money laundering and firearms offending.
David Leo Kluger, 49, was sentenced in the Wellington District Court on July 31 after pleading guilty to charges including possession of methamphetamine, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, and four counts of money laundering.
The offending came to police attention during Operation Chestnut, an investigation into methamphetamine supply across the central North Island and upper South Island.
Police watched Kluger’s Johnsonville home in August 2021, during the Covid lockdown, when an associate delivered a battery pack containing one kilogram of methamphetamine.
Kluger kept 700 grams of the drug and returned 300 grams to the associate, along with $130,000 in cash and containers of high-grade motor oil.
Two months later, police stopped Kluger while he was travelling to meet an associate in Oriental Bay.
A search of his vehicle found methamphetamine, liquid ecstasy and MDMA, along with a loaded pistol and $190,000 in vacuum-packed cash hidden inside a bag of dog food.
Police also searched properties connected to Kluger in Horowhenua and Marlborough.
At a Crail Bay property, officers found 15 firearms inside a locked safe, including prohibited military-style weapons, 10 prohibited magazines and at least 16,000 rounds of ammunition.
Kluger did not hold a firearms licence.
Crown prosecutor George Fitzgerald told the court Kluger played a leading role in a commercial drug operation and used the proceeds to buy assets, including a catamaran, a Marlborough property and a Ford ute.
Kluger’s lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC, accepted the offending was commercial but disputed the Crown’s description of it as sophisticated.
He told the court Kluger had spent four years and 10 months in custody awaiting sentencing and had addressed his drug and alcohol use while in prison.
Mansfield said the firearms were part of a collection, with some used for hunting on a rural property.
Judge Noel Sainsbury set a starting point of 14 and a half years for the methamphetamine offending, with a further two and a half years added because of the number of firearms and amount of ammunition involved.
The judge recognised Kluger’s previous good character, guilty pleas and personal circumstances before imposing the final sentence of 11 years and 11 months.
Judge Sainsbury said Kluger had chosen to make money by selling methamphetamine into the community, causing harm to individuals and families.
The case was reported by Open Justice.
