Huge drug shipment went to Fiji via NZ

Millions of dollars worth of precursor drugs seized in Fiji in a mid-week bust passed through New Zealand, say Fiji police.

They said the white powder seized was worth $F5.5 million ($NZ2.8m), and would have been used to make methamphetamine worth an estimated $F28m.

The Fiji Police National Intelligence Bureau told the Fiji Times that one of the men in custody was also involved in the biggest heroin bust in the Southern Hemisphere in 2000 when 357kg of heroin was seized in Suva. Canadian police said at the time they believed the drugs had originated in Myanmar and were being stockpiled in Fiji before shipment to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The man served a seven-year term before being released from prison. A second man was also arrested this week and both are currently in court facing charges, Fiji police spokeswoman Emma Mua told NZPA.

She confirmed New Zealand police were currently following a lead in relation to the drug bust.

However, police here are not commenting and would not say if they had tipped off Fiji police or knew anything about the shipment.

"The police are trying to determine a lot of things here," Fiji police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said, "(including) where the white powder was bound for, what was its purpose in Fiji and how many other people are involved".

Analysis showed the powder to be the Chinese flu medicine Contact NT, which had a high concentration of pseudoephedrine, the major raw material used in the production of methamphetamines known as "ice" and "P".

According to police, the consignment of powder arrived from China, via Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, and was intercepted at Suva Wharf.

Fiji police said they were looking at all possibilities, including the likelihood of another drug manufacturing lab in the country.

A United States diplomat, Richard Pruett, told the Fiji Times that a series of drug busts and immigration arrests in the past decade in Fiji have indicated a network of people from organised crime syndicates are operating in the islands.

According to Mr Pruett, Fiji has weaknesses which are being exploited by organised crime.

In 2004, overseas and local police arrested half a dozen Asian nationals and found the biggest methamphetamine manufacturing plant in the Southern Hemisphere.

The six men were found guilty of manufacturing crystal methamphetamine at a warehouse at Laucala Beach Estate, and a billion dollars worth of methamphetamine was seized.

Those operations were uncovered by a 14-month joint operation by the New Zealand and Fiji police and a specialised team from New Zealand was called in clean up the factory as volatile chemicals littered the site.

Last year Asian drug smugglers were caught using kava from Fiji to smuggle methamphetamine ingredients into New Zealand.

- NZPA