Tampered evidence: $50M drug haul missing from court

More than $50 million worth of cocaine linked to two high-profile cases involving foreign nationals is missing from the Suva court exhibit room.

New information gathered by this masthead indicates that, apart from the missing $31 million worth of cocaine, another batch of cocaine valued at more than $20 million has also been discovered missing.

The missing drugs belonged to Australian John Nicholic and Canadian Joshua Aziz Rahmanas, both of whom were imprisoned in Fiji.

The disappearance of drugs from the court exhibit room after years of storage raises concerns about the security of the court premises and the integrity of senior judicial officers.

Nicholic had in his possession 12.9 kilograms of imported cocaine and 65 tablets containing cocaine and methamphetamine, with their value estimated at between $20 million and $30 million. He was arrested in 2018 and sentenced in 2019.

Rahmanas was arrested in 2019 with 39.5kg of cocaine worth $31 million. He was sentenced in 2021.

The drugs were kept in the exhibit room at the High Court Registry, which had no proper security system, years after the two cases ended.

A police investigation into the missing $31 million worth of cocaine began in March this year.

Since then, the exhibit room has been relocated to a new room fitted with surveillance cameras and new grille bars.

Police believe the sealed drugs had been tampered with over a period of years and that the matter was brought to light only recently following media inquiries.

An initial police report earlier this month stated that $8 million worth of cocaine linked to the Rahmanas case was missing.

Yesterday, police confirmed that, following forensic tests, all of the $31 million worth of cocaine had been tampered with.

Test results were negative for cocaine, confirming that the substances were components of flour, salt and white sugar.

Investigations are now focused on those directly responsible for managing the exhibit room at the High Court Registry.

Suspect

A senior High Court official who has served in the judiciary for more than 10 years is believed to be the main person of interest.

When the official was reassigned to another judicial branch this year, her successor identified anomalies in the contents of the exhibit room.

The person of interest has since left the country.

This masthead understands police had visited the person of interest's newly built two-storey concrete house in Valelevu about three months ago.

Police visited the house again recently following information that she was in the country.

Meanwhile, Acting Attorney-General Siromi Turaga has strongly supported Chief Justice Salesi Temo's statement that those involved will be brought to task.

Attempts to obtain comment from Chief Registrar Tomasi Bainivalu were unsuccessful.

The chief registrar is responsible for the overall administration and operation of the courts.

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