Bungling boating by a group of landlubber drug smugglers has led to New Zealand's largest ever haul of methamphetamine, with their fumbling efforts arousing the suspicion of locals, police said on Tuesday.

The 448-kilogram haul, which has a street value of $425 million, is the largest ever in New Zealand, eclipsing in a single swoop the entire amount of ice seized in the South Pacific nation last year (334 kilograms).

Police said locals found an abandoned boat at remote 90 Mile Beach on Sunday and also reported a group of men had been acting suspiciously in the area in recent weeks.

They said the men, whose nationalities were not given, had been unsuccessfully trying to launch boats off the beach, then offering locals large amounts of cash to help them.

When police went to recover the boat, one of the vehicles used by the group drove past and was stopped after a brief chase.

Two men, aged 26 and 31, were arrested.

A short time later, a campervan driven by a third man, aged 19, was stopped, and a search found multiple suitcases containing zip-lock bags full of drugs.

Sorry, this video has expired New Zealand Police release footage of record drug bust

"What is so great about this is that it's not only the result of hard work by the Northland police, but it's the result of information we got from the community," Superintendent Russell Le Prou said in a statement.

"We received notification of several cases of suspicious behaviour in the past few weeks, and that has allowed us to get to this point."

Police said they were working with Customs to determine where the methamphetamine came from. Many of the bags showed signs of being in contact with salt water.

The three men were scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday charged with importing and possessing class A drugs for supply.

AFP