A Customs officer has been found to be a member of a secretive online marketplace which offers global delivery of illegal drugs, pornography, firearms and fake passports.

The officer, who has name suppression, has already appeared in Waitakere District Court on several methamphetamine-related offences, including supply of the class-A drug.

But the Herald understands that when police seized his personal computer, he told them they would find software and electronic history showing access to a hidden site called Silk Road.