Police are under mounting pressure in Kadavu as Fiji’s drug crisis intensifies with just 10 officers left to guard more than 300,000 seized marijuana plants.
National Drug Operations Coordinator SP Ruci Nasemira revealed drug-related crimes on the island have surged by 93 per cent compared to last year, with overall crime up 55 per cent.
Kadavu Provincial Council chairman and former Police assistant commissioner Isikeli Vuniwaqa warned that police are now “very vulnerable”, with concerns of officer collusion in marijuana cultivation.
“When society is vibrant in drug activities, the police are always vulnerable,” he said.
Authorities are now backing a whole-of-society response, reinforcing village structures, empowering chiefs and working on crop substitution to reduce reliance on the drug trade.
Just 10 police officers are guarding more than 300,000 marijuana plants seized in Nakasaleka, Kadavu, even as drug crimes surge across the island.
SP Nasemira said the drug-related crimes on the island had increased.
“Overall, crime on the island has increased by 55 percent this year when compared to numbers from last year, with marijuana cultivation and sale leading the list of reported offences,” Ms Nasemira said.
“This has increased by 93 percent.”
She said the scale of the problem was underscored by the discovery of a single nursery-style farm that contained about 30,000 plants.
“Operation Sasamaki”, launched in March, has been effective in reducing the number of active farms.
In March, about 72,000 plants were uprooted from 20 farms.
That number rose to about 76,000 across 26 farms in April. In May, authorities seized about 43,000 plants from 19 farms, and in June, about 15,000 were discovered on 10 farms.
Despite the grim drug figures, Ms Nasemira reported positive trends in other areas of policing.
“There has been a nine percent drop in reported cases of violence against women and a 15 percent decrease in child abuse cases this year.”
She said alcohol and domestic disputes remained the common factors in family violence incidents.
