TWO hundred and ten million dollars worth of drugs have been confiscated this year alone by authorities after people tried to smuggle it into the country.
This includes 152 kilograms of cocaine, 50 klilograms of methphetamine and the recent $100m worth of amphetamines caught at the Kings Wharf in Suva this month.
Defence, National Security and Immigration Minister Timoci Natuva highlighted this in Parliament yesterday.
Mr Natuva said Fiji’s efforts of enforcement in terms of combating drugs in the country had been intact especially now that Fijian authorities had been working closely with the Australian Federal Police and the New Zealand police.
“The law enforcement agencies have foreseen the trend and probability of occurring drug trafficking into Fiji, before it came through, they’ve already set up the system,” Mr Natuva said.
“For this year alone there have been three seizures,” he added.
He said smuggling drugs into the country contravened the Illicit Drugs Control Act 2004 which had special investigation provision and penalties to deal with offenders.
With cases in court, Mr Natuva said he would not dwell any further on the case but confirmed that penalties were life imprisonment or $100m fine or both.
