Get out!
Former CID officer and Tavualevu landowner Tevita Ralulu has delivered a stern warning to drug smugglers using Vatia Wharf.
“What I want is for these drug dealers and foreigners who are sending drugs through Vatia not to use this wharf because it is on traditional land,” he said.
Mr Ralulu condemned the constant headlines linking the area to major drug busts and urged smugglers to take their illicit operations elsewhere.
“We are embarrassed as landowners and will not allow this near our land,” he said, calling for immediate action
“We are about to start this development, and it’s a big development. We don’t want anything like this happening near our land.”
Mr Ralulu told drug dealers to take their operations elsewhere.
“Find another place to go and deal your drugs. Don’t use Vatia Wharf.”
He said he had alerted police after spotting suspicious yachts anchored near an uninhabited island close to the wharf.
“This is happening because we have officers that are working with these drug lords,” he claimed.
“These officers who are doing this illegal activity should decide whether they want to be a police officer or a criminal.”
Mr Ralulu’s concerns follow the arrest and court appearance of five foreign nationals and six Fijians involved in the seizure of more than 2.6 tonnes of cocaine near the Vatia Wharf on January 16 by a special police taskforce.
Charged so far are Varavu, Ba, residents Bainivalu Suguturaga, 24, and Munendra, 32, Ecuadorian nationals Luciano Enrique Mero Sanchez , 47, Jonathan Javier Solorzano Bermello, 30, Ramon Isidro Vega Parraga, 52, and Alejandro Juvenal Yagual Gonzalez, 47, fitness trainer Jonathan Hill, New Zealand national John Taotala and locals Ponipate Mateyawa, Iliesa Cokanasiga and Merewalesi Qolimaiwasa.
