Drug cartels bribing officers, Turaga tells Parliament

Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga has elightened Parliament that foreign drug cartels operating in Fiji were deliberately targeting and bribing law enforcement officers.

The strategy is a core business move to protect their operations.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Mr Turaga said the narcotics trade was not simply fighting Fiji through drug shipments alone – it was fighting back with money and influence.

“They implement business solutions to resolve business issues, which involve the buying of individuals,” Mr Turaga said.

He was quick to clarify he was not attacking honest officers within Fiji’s enforcement agencies and Police force.

“I am stating this because it is imperative that Parliament comprehends that the narcotics trade is not solely engaged in a shipmentbased conflict with us. It is opposing us with patience, influence and money,” he said.

In simple terms, this means international drug organisations are paying some officers to look the other way.

This deliberately weakens Fiji’s ability to catch and prosecute traffickers.

Mr Turaga said Fiji had become a transit hub for foreign cartels with encrypted communications, sophisticated criminal methods and massive financial resources, using Fiji’s ports and waters as a gateway to Australia and New Zealand.

He pointed to a landmark prosecution of 4.5 tonnes of methamphetamine as evidence the Government was fighting back. Opposition MP Alvick Maharaj acknowledged the DPP’s work, but said the problem had worsened on the Coalition Government’s watch.

“Officers within the newly established Narcotics Bureau are themselves being prosecuted for drug-related offences and corruption,” Mr Maharaj said.

“When the guardians of the law become the facilitators of the crime, it signals a catastrophic failure.”