The joint police and military taskforce has been highly effective in Fiji’s fight against drugs despite isolated incidents that have “tainted” the operation.
Permanent secretary for Policing and Communications, Berenado Daveta rejected calls to disband the taskforce amid concerns arising from alleged assault and murder cases linked to officers from both the disciplined forces.
Speaking to the media, he said the joint operations continued to produce positive results and remained an important part of the Government’s strategy against illicit drugs.
“The joint operation that is now being conducted with the police and military at the moment, it’s not only with the police and military,” he said.
“We have collaborations with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) and Immigration, and all other ministries who would be involved in some way or another.”
Mr Daveta said the partnership between the police and military had been working well despite public scrutiny.
“For example, since we have worked together, 74,000 marijuana plants have been uprooted in the North.”
Addressing concerns over recent incidents involving security personnel (Sakiasi Ose Radravu), Mr Daveta said such cases were not representative of the joint operations as a whole.
“It’s somebody just going rogue with something. So, it has (been) tainted.”
Mr Daveta maintained that overall the partnership had been successful, with the military providing support while police remained in command of operations.
“Police lead all operations. They’ve been requested to support on specific areas and time bound.”
He added the deployment of military personnel was determined by the Commissioner of Police and was subject to specified timeframes.
