{"id":9003,"date":"2024-01-17T17:33:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T04:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=9003"},"modified":"2024-01-17T17:33:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T04:33:09","slug":"whole-lot-of-people-questions-over-aussie-link-to-3-5-tonne-fiji-meth-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=9003","title":{"rendered":"‘Whole lot of people’: Questions over Aussie link to 3.5 tonne Fiji meth bust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two local men are reportedly being questioned after a 3.5 tonne methamphetamine bust in Fiji, as police probe the origins and destination of the drugs.<\/p>\n

The drugs were found in a small, unfinished home in a quiet community near the nation’s main international airport.\u00a0It has been called one of the country’s biggest ever drug busts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police are also looking into claims the drugs were bound for Australia, with the home affairs minister saying “a whole lot of people” were involved.<\/p>\n

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) declined to comment if they had any involvement in the raid, or if they were in contact with their Fijian counterparts.<\/p>\n

“This is a Fiji Police Force operation,” AFP said in reply to questions from RNZ Pacific.<\/p>\n

Acting Fiji police commissioner Juki Fong Chew did not provide further details.<\/p>\n

He told RNZ Pacific police were “in the initial stage of investigations”, saying questions about the origin and destination would be answered “as we proceed along”.<\/p>\n

\"Juki<\/p>\n

Juki Fong Chew\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0Fiji Police<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

However, assistant commissioner for crime Mesake Waqa told local radio broadcaster fijivillage.com police were looking at\u00a0“information received that the large drug consignment was destined for Australia”.<\/a><\/p>\n

He added police were “not ruling out the allegation that some police and customs officers may be involved in the drug operation”.<\/p>\n

Waka on Tuesday said an investigation was also looking into whether prominent figures and some people linked to pharmaceutical companies were connected to the shipment.<\/p>\n

The drugs, in nearly 800 medium size-containers and wrapped in brown tape, were found at “an incomplete corrugated iron home in a quiet neighbourhood in Voivoi, Legalega in Nadi”,\u00a0The Fiji Times\u00a0<\/i>reported.<\/p>\n

A community elder and retired school teacher, Abhiram, told the newspaper: “This is a peaceful, crime-free neighbourhood, nothing of this sort happens here.”<\/p>\n

\"Pio<\/p>\n

Pio Tikoduadua\u00a0<\/span>Photo:\u00a0Facebook \/ Fiji Government<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Network’ of people involved<\/h3>\n

Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua has said strengthening Fiji’s border security was now a top priority.<\/p>\n

“How do you stay ahead so that you don’t get surprised?” Tikoduadua said.<\/p>\n

“It’s normal that things pass through, but why does three tonnes pass through? That is big. How did it ever get to Nadi?” he said to local journalists.<\/p>\n

“There’s a whole lot of people that are handling that, and that’s the extent of this network.”<\/p>\n

VIA RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two local men are reportedly being questioned after a 3.5 tonne methamphetamine bust in Fiji, as police probe the origins and destination of the drugs. The drugs were found in a small, unfinished home in a quiet community near the nation’s main international airport.\u00a0It has been called one of the country’s biggest ever drug busts. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,175,222],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-fiji-news","category-latest-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9005,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9003\/revisions\/9005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}