A story is resurfacing from 2023, about a man in New Zealand who was killed by a can of "Honey Bear" beer, which contained liquified methamphetamine from Toronto.In March 2023, 21-year-old Aiden Sagala decided to try "Honey Bear" beer, a Canadian brand. Aiden had tried the beer with his brother-in-law Billy, but his beer had tasted quite peculiar.“Hey bro, does the beer taste salty?” Aiden asked Billy, according to CTV..Billy proceeded to try Aiden's beer himself — and spat the liquid out right away."I went to have a taste to see what he meant. So I only took a sip, but I spat that out real fast... it tasted like sea salt with chemicals. I told him I didn’t fully swallow,” said Billy.Aiden then started to panic, and his sister Angela rushed home to perform CPR on Aiden.But when the ambulance arrived an hour after being called, Aiden fell into a coma and died five days later..Investigations into the cause of Aiden's death — revealed a transnational drug smuggling ring with ties to India, Canada, and the US.The police found and raided a storage unit in Auckland, where 700 kilograms of smuggled liquid methamphetamine disguised as 29,000 cans of Honey Bear beer were discovered.The storage unit also contained with other liquid beverages used as disguises, including American kombucha and Indian coconut water.The man behind the curtain, Baltej Singh — the owner of a local supermarket — had imported the large amounts of meth..The kicker, Aiden was given the beers by his boss, Himatjit “Jimmy” Kahlon, who was accused of helping process this liquid meth into crystal meth. Khalon was seen on a security camera removing the cases of beer from the unit, and while giving away some of the cases that actually contained beer, he had accidentally given away some filled with meth.Khalon has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for manslaughter and possession of methamphetamine. The drug seizure by New Zealand authorities has become one of the single largest drug seizures in its history. Detective Greg Williams, head of New Zealand’s National Organized Crime Group, said that meth costs more in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world..One kilogram of meth in Canada goes for $10,000 while in New Zealand that same kilogram costs $300,000. That's $210 million NZD just from raiding the Auckland storage unit alone. CTV reported Canada is flooding New Zealand with meth.From 2020 to 2024, New Zealand seized more meth from Canada than any other country in the world, with a street value of $350 million..In a similar case in 2024, the Canadian Border Security Agency (CBSA) seized "1,278 litres of liquid methamphetamine in British Columbia bound for export to Australia.""This seizure represents approximately 4 million individual doses with an estimated street value of $2 million," the CBSA stated.According to RCMP intelligence document, international gangs increasingly use the Vancouver port as a starting point to smuggle drugs to New Zealand and Australia.
