The first major drug bust in Fiji is said to be in 1978 when about two kilograms of heroin and 20kgs of Indian hemp were found on a New Zealand woman at the Nadi International Airport.
A report in The Fiji Times on August 14, 1978, stated that Christina Doreen Skipper, also known as Susan Florence Jay Rennie, was stopped, and searched by Customs officials after they became suspicious about her movement in the baggage area and the drugs were discovered in the two suitcases she carried.
The 22-year-old was then sentenced to serve a six-year term at the Natabua Gaol where authorities began to fear that members of a drug syndicate might try to “silence” her and requested Police to make exhaustive security checks on anyone wishing to visit her.
A close newspaper source said this measure was taken to ensure that other members of a drug syndicate to which Skipper allegedly belonged to did not “get at her” in prison.
The source said prison authorities were aware that investigations into the affairs of the syndicate were continuing in New Zealand at the time and at least one person was already facing drug charges there.
Prison authorities wanted to make sure someone from the syndicate did not enter the cell under the pretext of just visiting her, and perhaps kill her to stop her talking about the syndicate to which she was allegedly connected, the source told the paper.
Anyone wanting to visit Ms Skipper first had to go through police screening and would be allowed to go on only if they totally satisfied police about the reasons for the visit.
The source said the only outside visitor for Skipper had been her father, who returned to New Zealand after seeing his daughter in prison.
He is understood to have contacted police before arriving here with formal identification papers, but he also met his daughter in the presence of an officer.
The source said she had not requested the security measures, but prison authorities were looking at all possibilities and taking no chances.
He said that apart from the screening of any prospective visitor, the only other security measure was a 24-hour watch kept on her by the wives of two prison officers.
The two women, temporarily employed on full rates of pay, took turns to be with Skipper during the day and at night. Skipper, meanwhile, was assigned to normal cleaning and washing duties and spent a lot of time reading books from the prison library.
Her lawyers, the Ba firm of Sahu Khan and Sahu Khan, had appealed against the judgment and were understood to have been awaiting the setting of a date for their case to be heard in the Supreme Court.
The source said before leaving, Skipper’s father had undertaken to pay the full expenses incurred for her defence.
The drugs were taken back to New Zealand in connection to investigations there.
