David Jonathan Thackray and a New Zealand national, Ho Kai Leung, were among 12 individuals and eight entities sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in an action taken against “global narcotics traffickers”.
Thackray was charged with importing nearly one kilogram of cocaine into New Zealand in 2014 and was subsequently imprisoned, as acknowledged by New Zealand police in a statement recognizing the OFAC sanctions. Leung was convicted in New Zealand for procuring and possessing methamphetamine and amphetamine, and he is the director of two New Zealand-registered companies that were sanctioned by OFAC.
OFAC also targeted Lithuanian nationals Rokas Karpavicius and Virginijus Labutis, who are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of cocaine and methamphetamine, money laundering, and corruption.
“Drug traffickers earn significantly higher commissions on the transportation of illicit drugs to Australia and New Zealand, where the increased profits offset the high costs of narcotics trafficking,” OFAC stated.
Karpavicius and Labutis coordinated “significant” shipments of narcotics from Central and South America to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and the US, according to OFAC allegations.
Karpavicius has been arrested in numerous jurisdictions, including New Zealand, since the 1990s on drug-related charges and is alleged to have laundered money from drug trafficking. OFAC claimed he was the majority owner of several entities, including Switzerland-based Dragon Secure GmbH.
Labutis was arrested in October 2024 on an Interpol red notice related to drug trafficking charges.
Any property or assets in the U.S. belonging to sanctioned individuals are blocked and reported to OFAC, and any transactions in the U.S. involving such blocked property are prohibited.
