Vatia waters have long been marked for suspicious drug activities, Vatutavui Village headman Niko Sucuvakaivalu said.
“There have been a lot of yachts berthing out at sea,” he said.
“And what we’ve noticed is this is not the first time; it has been going on for the past few years.”
Two weeks ago, a major drug bust at the village’s shores shocked locals, who never expected their qoliqoli to be used as a transit point.
Asked why villagers did not report suspicious activity, Mr Sucuvakaivalu said: “We do not really know what was going on.
“Last year, there was awareness on the seizure of drugs in Nadi; the Tavua police unit also did a drug awareness session with our youth.”
“And that’s when we were alerted about the issue of drugs hitting our country, but we really did not know that this would also take place at Vatia for drug cartels to use our shores as a transit point.”
“When the drugs got seized, we knew that this was not the first time, as people who are visitors have been coming to that area.”
