The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has denied any involvement by its Customs officers in the alleged disappearance of two gold bars worth approximately $58,000 from an Australian transit passenger at Nadi International Airport.
In a statement, FRCS clarified that airport transit security operations were not managed by the Service and fell outside its Customs functions.
“FRCS confirms that its Customs officers were not involved in the interception, questioning, inspection or screening of the passenger or his luggage at any stage,” the statement said.
The clarification follows allegations by Australian traveller Ronnie Wong that two 100-gram gold bullion bars, valued at approximately US$26,000, disappeared from his luggage while he was transiting through Nadi on October 15.
Mr Wong was travelling from Los Angeles to Adelaide when he claimed he was stopped for an inspection at approximately 7am.
He alleged that an officer took his bag containing the gold bars out of his sight before returning it.
Mr Wong said he only discovered the bullion was missing after arriving home in Australia.
However, FRCS maintained that because Mr Wong was a transit passenger, the matter did not fall under the standard Customs arrival clearance process.
“Any routine airport security screening undertaken was separate from Customs operations and did not involve FRCS Customs officers,” the statement said.
“FRCS therefore wishes to clarify that its Customs officers had no involvement in the handling, inspection or custody of the gold bullion referred to in the media reports.”
In correspondence seen by The Fiji Times, Fiji Airports acknowledged his complaint on October 19 and said it would coordinate with its security team to investigate and request the preservation and review of relevant CCTV footage.
Mr Wong has maintained that he is not accusing any particular officer of wrongdoing but wants an independent investigation to establish what happened to his property.
Questions have been sent to Fiji Airports regarding the matter.
