IT was a case that attracted a lot of interest in 1988 as for the first time weapons had been smuggled into the country.
The information that a container load of weapons could have arrived in Fiji was received from Australia where the authorities had intercepted a container packed with arms and ammunition.
A major investigation was carried out by police and illegal arms and ammunition were recovered from various places in the Western Division.
For the past four weeks, The Fiji Times brought to you exclusive interviews with a former police officer and a former politician on the illegal shipment of arms and ammunition to Fiji.
As we wrap up the series today, we bring you yet another exclusive interview with someone who was the State prosecutor in the early stages of the case in 1988.
He talks to us about his experience in handling the case and what he had to go through at that time as a young prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
With his exclusive interview, we also give you a flashback into the case which created a lot of interest then and also now for those who were unaware of it.
HE was a prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for about four years when he was given a major case to handle.
It was a case to do with the illegal shipment of arms and ammunition to Fiji, in which 21 people had been charged by the police.
For Babu Indrashekhar Singh, who was about 29 years old then, it was something big in his young career as a State prosecutor.
But he did not know what to expect when he attended court to prosecute the accused persons in the case.
Going down memory lane, a container packed with arms and ammunition had been intercepted by the authorities in Sydney, Australia in May 1988.
The container was shipped from North Yemen and it was destined for Fiji.
Australian police informed their Fijian counterparts about the discovery and they also said that a similar container could have already arrived in Fiji sometime in April that year.
Based on that information, a major police investigation was carried out, starting from Lautoka where the container had arrived.
Police officers started their investigations from the Lautoka Wharf and they found out that the container had been cleared and the sender was a Dr Ralph Khan and the receiver a Fijian chief.
The investigation led them to Ba and then to Lautoka, where the container was found at a man’s house but it was empty.
After interrogating the man, police officers came to know of the whereabouts of the illegal arms and ammunition and raids were carried out.
The raids in Momi, Sabeto and Mulomulo in Nadi; Vuda in Lautoka, other places around Lautoka and some places in Ba and Tavua resulted in the recovery of most of the illegal arms and ammunition.
With the arms and ammunition, police and military officers also recovered boots, helmets and other things.
During the raids, police officers also arrested some people and they were later charged in connection with the illegal shipment of arms and ammunition to Fiji.
On June 8, 1988, we reported that 21 people had appeared in the Lautoka Magistrates Court the day earlier for their alleged involvement in the case and they were remanded in custody.
The charges varied from conspiring to import arms and ammunition unlawfully into Fiji to unlawful possession of arms and ammunition.
It was also reported during those days that some members of the Fiji Labour Party and National Federation Party coalition government led by the late Dr Timoci Bavadra were also questioned by police in connection with the find.
The Bavadra Government was deposed in the country’s first military coup led by Sitiveni Rabuka on May 14, 1987, less than a month after them being in office.
On June 18, 1988, we reported that the new Internal Security Decree promulgated by the Government that week made the illegal possession of arms, ammunition and explosives punishable by life imprisonment.
It was reported on June 21 that when the 21 accused persons appeared in court the day earlier, Mr Singh asked that their pleas be deferred and he referred to the new Decree.
Mr Singh had told the court then that the DPP’s office was considering amendments to the charges by way of substitutions to the charges.
In an interview with this newspaper, Mr Singh said hundreds of people used to crowd the courtroom and outside when the accused persons were brought for their case.
“The investigating officer in the case, the late Govind Raju, took me to the Lautoka Police Station and showed me a cache of weapons,” he said.
“It was the first time that I had seen such a large amount of arms and ammunition and to be very honest, I was a bit afraid.
“Threats were made to me and I had to change hotels when I travelled to Lautoka from Suva to prosecute the case.
“I used to hear verbal abuses from people as to what kind of prosecutor I was and other things whenever I made my way to court.
“I told Govind Raju about the verbal abuses and threats made to me.
“He opened a bag and showed me a gun and told me don’t worry. He said if anyone says anything, then he’ll use the gun to scare them.
“I myself was frightened after seeing the gun. Govind Raju then escorted me to the court with the bag in his hand.”
Mr Singh said he later met a lawyer from New Zealand in Lautoka, who later went on to write a book about the arms case.
“In 1989, I went to London from the DPP’s office on unrelated work and I made some inquiries about Ralph Khan, who was the suspect in the shipment of the arms to Fiji,” he said.
“I met some friends in London and attended a function.
“They told me that Ralph Khan would be coming to that function.
“I waited for one hour but he didn’t turn up, probably because he knew that I was a prosecutor from Fiji and someone may have told him that I’m there.”
Mr Singh also said the DPP’s office could not extradite Khan to Fiji because an illegal government was in power at that time.
He said two lawyers representing Khan also came to Fiji then to gather evidence in support of their client.
The former State prosecutor has been in private practice since leaving the DPP’s office and after practising as a lawyer in Australia for the past few years, he is back in Fiji with his law firm in Suva and Nadi.
Ralph Khan was born in Fiji and was named Mohammed Rafiq Khan but he used other names like Peter Khan, Mohammed Rafiq Kahan and Mohammed Rafiq.
Khan was the main suspect behind the shipment of the arms and ammunition to Fiji and he was reportedly arrested in England in June 1988.
He had convictions for criminal cases in Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and other countries, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
As per our sources of information, most of the illegal arms and ammunition were recovered by security personnel during the raids in June 1988.
But it cannot be confirmed if all the illegal arms and ammunition sent in what was believed to be a 15-tonne container were recovered or not.
* NEXT WEEK
New series: 56 days as a hostage
