NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited Tonga's police headquarters. They are pictured with Tonga PM Lord Fakafānua. Photo / Julia Gabel
NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited Tonga's police headquarters. They are pictured with Tonga PM Lord Fakafānua. Photo / Julia Gabel
New Zealand’s police commissioner wants a Kiwi police officer stationed in Colombia within the next year as the Pacific continues to be targetted by drug traffickers.
It comes as the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the commissioner, Richard Chambers, visit Samoa and Tonga, where the flow of drugsfrom international hubs is a paramount concern.
At Tonga’s national police headquarters, Luxon revealed New Zealand would fund a subscription for Tonga and Samoa to a high-tech marine surveillance platform that tracks drug traffickers and “dark ships” in real time.
NZ's Police Commissioner and Prime Minister visited Tonga's police headquarters. Photo / Julia Gabel
He also announced $2 million in funding for social support services to help returnees to Tonga reintegrate into society, and $2.4m in funding to be distributed to communities in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji through the Salvation Army.
“This funding will grow here in Tonga community-based alcohol and drug support services, build awareness of the harm and risks [associated] with alchohol and drug use,” Luxon said.
There was also a display of Tonga’s detector dogs, which are trained and sourced from New Zealand. Dog trainers are also trained in New Zealand.
In Samoa, Luxon announced a new agreement between New Zealand and Samoa’s customs and police departments to share criminal intelligence. Four New Zealand police officers would also be moved to the Samoan force.
NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and PM Christopher Luxon during a Cabinet meeting in Samoa addressing a joint response to drug crime in the Pacific. Photo / Sam Sachdeva
“My visits to Samoa last year, and the conversations that I had with the [Samoan Police] Commissioner back then ... it’s quite clear they need more help with transnational serious and organised crime,” Chambers told the Herald.
“It gives us much more opportunity to upscale with investigations in particular.”
Luxon says international drug traffickers have turned the Pacific into a “superhighway for drugs” as they use its nations as transit points before trying to get the products, typically cocaine or methamphetamine, into the “lucrative” New Zealand market.
The New Zealand Drug Foundation says it has seen a “sharp increase” in meth use and “increasing” cocaine consumption. And Pacific nations continue to grapple with the overwhelming impact these drugs are having on their communities.
Chambers said high demand and limited supply made New Zealand an attractive and lucrative market for offshore dealers.
Much of the world’s cocaine was produced in South America, he said, and New Zealand would benefit from having a Kiwi police liaison officer stationed in Colombia.
“I would love [that to happen] this year. There is a lot of global law enforcement based there [in Colombia],” he said.
“[Pacific nations] know the threat presented by criminal networks ... and the specific challenge that we’ve got is that South America produces most of the world’s cocaine. New Zealand and Australia are lucrative markets. Any product coming there tends to come through ... the Pacific highway.”
Chambers, who used to work for Interpol, said for most police chiefs around the world, transnational organised crime included drug trafficking as well as things like human trafficking and fraud.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
