Bula
Quite a lot of people are feeling the impact of the death of George Fiji Veikoso this week. It’s trending online and has steadily stayed there now for a few days. Yesterday another well known Fijian died. Parmesh Chand was a friend as well as a leader who was quiet spoken and well known to many. Condolences are in order and I wish their families peace in trying times.
Two stories make the front page of The Fiji Times for Saturday, July 26.
Saturday’s edition is always big, and it takes a coordinated effort from the team to put that together, and deliver it to you on time.
And it is filled to the brim with exciting and interesting stuff. Check out the well written opinions from some great writers, and features that touch on sections like Motoring, entertainment, Property Guide, and the seven pages of letters to the editor.
Synopsis
There is money to be made in the illicit drug trade. That’s a fact and the recent $81 million worth of drugs seized by the police is testimony to that.
It is lucrative. It is a money-making trade that has obviously captivated many farmers who are actually willing to test the law and push it to its limits.
Police seized more than $81million worth of drugs in the past three months, said Acting Commissioner of Police Aporosa Lutunauga.
He spoke at the inaugural Fijian Media Association hosted Townhall Forum at the Grand Epic Hotel in Savusavu on Wednesday night.
He emphasised the need for a united front again at the second night of the Townhall Forum in Labasa on Thursday.
Nine tonnes of illicit drugs, he said, were hauled in between March and May this year.
It had an estimated street value of $79million.
It was what the police prevented from entering the market, he said.
Operations were conducted in four phases under the force’s tracking program.
“Most of the drugs seized were green drugs such as marijuana, which made up the bulk of the total.”
Police also intercepted 4.9kilograms of white drugs, valued at $2.4m.
He emphasised the need for community involvement in the fight against drugs.
We have always said that the police cannot fight the drug war alone.
It needs the assistance and support of all stakeholders.
That means getting people engaged from the community level, to families, the vanua and the Government.
While some investigations had led to the recovery of proceeds of crime, Mr Lutunauga said identifying those responsible remained a challenge.
The massive haul by the police reflects the scale of the drug challenge and also how lucrative it is.
This is why we have to be pushing for an alternative crop if the emphasis is going to be on destroying marijuana for instance.
We realise there is talk about medicinal cannabis and the need for us to consider that line of thinking.
But then again, we have the law to contend with right now, which is why the police have their work cut out.
But it makes sense that the focus of attention has to be placed on emphasising the war against drugs.
So any amount of drugs taken off the streets is welcome.
The question is why aren’t we jumping up and down? Why aren’t we talking about this major challenge? Why are we so quiet?
We should be screaming our displeasure over the sale of drugs. We should be angry about the damage it is causing our nation. We should be frustrated about how many youngsters are impacted and addicted now, and we should be engaged!
