New Zealand Man Dies After Gulping Down ‘Beer.’ Authorities Make Largest Meth Bust In Country’s History

An Auckland, New Zealand, man died after drinking from a can he thought contained Canadian beer but actually held liquid meth, ultimately leading to the country’s largest meth bust, according to a report.

Aiden Sagala, 21, reportedly cracked open a tall can of “Honey Bear Beer” from a case gifted to him by his boss on March 2, 2023, after returning home from work, CTV News reported.

“Hey bro, does the beer taste salty?” Sagala asked his brother-in-law Billy after taking a gulp, the latter recalled. Billy said he tried Sagala’s can and immediately spat it out. “[I]t tasted like sea salt with chemicals. I told him I didn’t fully swallow,” he said.

Minutes later, Sagala told Billy he thought he was dying and grew increasingly agitated and violent, according to the brother-in-law. “He was screaming out, ‘I want my mom, I want my mom. I’m dying, I want mom. I’m dying, I want mom,’” Billy said. (RELATED: Cher’s Son Reportedly Narrowly Escaped Death After Apparent Overdose)

Billy recalled contacting his wife and Sagala’s sister, Angela, who hurried to the residence. A doctor, she performed CPR after calling for an ambulance. Paramedics took an hour to arrive, according to the outlet.

“He said to me, ‘Sis, I’m dying.’ And I said, ‘You are absolutely not dying, not today, not on my watch,’” Angela said.

Sagala entered a coma and died five days later from multiple organ failure caused by a lethal dose of methamphetamine, CTV News reported.

“He did die on my watch,” she said. “It’s so hard to relive the fact that those were the last words that my brother had spoken. He died in my arms that day.”

The ensuing investigation led police to raid a storage unit containing roughly 700 kilograms of liquid meth, authorities said. Police arrested Sagala’s boss, Himatjit “Jimmy” Kahlon, who was reportedly caught on film pulling beer cases from the unit. He was accused of aiding in processing the liquid meth into crystal form. Kahlon then began handing out the cans with beer in them but accidentally left cans containing meth inside the cases, according to officials.

Police said they also arrested Baltej Singh, a supermarket owner who imported almost 29,000 cans of the fake beer from Toronto, Canada, as well as other goods.

Detective Superintendent Greg Williams said meth sells in New Zealand for far more than anywhere else in the world. The seized methamphetamine had an estimated street value of approximately $210 million, with a single kilogram of meth selling for nearly $300,000, according to CTV News.

Kahlon received 21 years for manslaughter in February 2025. Singh got 22 years for importing methamphetamine and ephedrine, possessing methamphetamine for supply and possessing cocaine for supply.

The seizure became New Zealand’s largest meth bust in its history. No one in Canada has faced charges for the exportation of the drug that killed Sagala, something Billy criticized, the outlet reported.

“Shut them down and take them to jail. I’ll be very brutal about this,” he said. “This is murder. To be honest, I see it as murder.”

Editor’s note: Headline and lede altered to reflect that the outlet reports the drug bust was New Zealand’s largest meth bust.