Manu Vatuvei

Former rugby league star Manu Vatuvei has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for importing methamphetamine worth $200000.

The chemical marking powder was also detected on their clothes and skin. The other package was not intercepted by authorities. Twelve minutes later police raided the house and arrested Vatuvei and Mafi. Vatuvei was remanded on bail ahead of his sentencing. "I know there'll be a lot of questions that will be wanting answers but I've been advised by my legal team that's all I can talk about. His brother, Lopini Mafi, was also sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to importing commercial quantities of methamphetamine. At about $500 per gram, that amount could sell for around $200,000. In relation to one of the package's Vatuvei was charged over, text messages show him and another one of the defendants confirming the arrival of the drugs. He appeared for sentencing in the Manukau District Court today before Judge Jonathan Moses. He was known through his league career as Manu Vatuvei. It can be defined by what you choose to do from today onwards. I hope that you do so," Judge Moses said.

It's a dramatic fall from grace for the former fan favourite, who was caught in a 2019 sting.

including the monitoring of text messages and calls. Police also found cell phones, sim card packs and ammunition. Police monitored them opening a package they believed to be methamphetamine but which actually contained a placebo. "We have a situation where an individual since 2002 up to 2017 had spent his life in a very structured environment.... Officials had marked it with a chemical powder, the handling of which would result in spores being transferred onto their clothing and skin. Judge Jonathan Moses told Vatuvei that he saw the despair the drug caused everyday.