Student’s drug stash found as cops overhear call to lost phone

A student visiting from out of town inadvertently exposed himself to legal trouble when his phone, containing concealed drugs, was turned over to Dunedin police amid St Patrick’s Day festivities.

The 19-year-old student from Lincoln University inadvertently disclosed the presence of drugs hidden in his phone’s case when police overheard him during a call to his lost phone.

Sergeant Matt Lee, based in Dunedin, reported that police officers were patrolling Castle St during the St Patrick’s Day celebrations when a member of the public handed them a lost phone around 1:30 p.m.

Subsequently, a friend of the phone’s owner contacted the phone and coordinated with the police for its return.

However, according to Sgt Lee, the friend “failed to hang up the phone”.

“Police overheard the phone’s owner expressing reluctance to retrieve his phone from the police due to the presence of ketamine pills hidden in the back of it,” Sgt Lee stated.

Upon investigation, police uncovered the drugs concealed beneath the phone case.

The phone’s owner, a 19-year-old student from Lincoln University, was visiting Dunedin to partake in St Patrick’s Day celebrations with friends, Sgt Lee added.

“He eventually approached the police to retrieve his phone and was issued a formal warning,” Sgt Lee noted.

The ketamine was confiscated and subsequently destroyed, Sgt Lee confirmed.

tim.scott@odt.co.nz