Drug dealers are moving through the same waters where coastal communities fish, travel and live, prompting urgent calls for capacity building in basic border control and drug awareness for maritime villages. Nacula district spokeswoman Lavenia Naivalu said drug cartel-controlled vessels were increasingly using Fiji’s maritime islands as entry points, placing vulnerable coastal communities on the front line of the illicit drug trade.
She said maritime island leaders must be actively involved in supporting border control agencies, warning that communities were unknowingly exposed to criminal activity passing through their daily lives.
“I am deeply concerned about the way things are happening with the drug trade in Fiji,” Ms Naivalu said.
“The two major drug busts were both brought into Fiji through our waters.
“With the Legalega drug raid, I looked at the coordinates and noticed that it came through Yasawa. As a community leader that concerns me because we are sitting here while these drug cartels are moving through places where we fish and where our villages are located.”
She said maritime communities needed to be equipped with basic knowledge to identify suspicious activities and vessels.
“We are urging our police to come to the villages and educate us to at least know what to look out for.
“When we see a yacht what sort of signs we need to look for if a vessel is carrying drugs.
“And if we do find something, who do we call? These are very simple things that villages and community leaders could do to help our authorities.”
Ms Naivalu said community leaders from the Nacula district would meet next week to further discuss the issue.
“We talk about the importance of monitoring our villages and for our village headmen to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
“At our meeting next week, we plan to raise it again and hopefully invite the police to conduct some awareness and training workshops for us.”
