Desperate meth users are being duped into paying up to $200 for what they believe is methamphetamine, only to discover they have been sold nothing more than Epsom salt.
The alarming trend was exposed by Police Corporal Waisea Bolabiu during the Yasana o Ba Provincial Council meeting at Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa in Denarau, Nadi, yesterday.
Mr Bolabiu revealed that street peddlers were turning to the deception when supplies of methamphetamine dried up, selling ordinary salt to unsuspecting customers while passing it off as the highly addictive drug. “Peddlers are selling salt, not the actual methamphetamine,” he said of the tests conducted on those arrested for possession.
“When it’s tested, it’s Epsom salt.”
He warned that the practice was becoming increasingly common in Fiji, with dealers allegedly resorting to the scam to keep money flowing even when the real drug was unavailable.
“Those who are on the ground, where there is no supply of meth, they will sell salt to the people.
“And buyers are going to buy thinking that it’s methamphetamine, but it’s actually salt, just to make money off the people.” Mr Bolabiu said the deception was leaving buyers paying for a drug they were not actually receiving, with many unaware they had been duped until laboratory testing exposed the truth.
“It’s a trend now going on in Fiji.”
