Police claimed they smashed the biggest methamphetamine lab ever uncovered in the Southern Hemisphere after raiding a factory Tuesday in Fiji's capital and seizing drugs and enough chemicals to make US$540 million worth of the party drug "ice."
The raids on three warehouses on Suva's outskirts underscored recent warnings by Australia and New Zealand that South Pacific islands could become havens for international organized crime if they don't boost policing, end corruption and bolster their economies.
The illegal drugs were headed for markets in Australia, New Zealand, US and Europe, Fiji police commissioner Andrew Hughes said.
Seven people, including four Asians and three Fijians, were arrested and being questioned by police, Hughes said. They may appear in court Thursday, he said. Their identities and the nationalities of the non-Fijians were not disclosed.
Fiji's parliament is debating tougher drug laws that would increase sentences for serious drug offenses from a maximum of 20 years to life in prison, and increase fines that can be imposed to up to F$1 million (US$540,000).
Hughes said the laboratory, on an industrial estate, was set up to produce the party drug methamphetamine, known as "ice," in what he called the largest such laboratory ever found in the hemisphere.
Dozens of officers involved in the raids wore special chemical resistant overalls as they searched the buildings.
"This is a frightening example of transnational organized crime elements using Fiji as a staging ground for their illegal activities," Hughes told reporters. "Increasingly we are seeing these elements coming to Fiji and joining up with local organized criminal groups."
Some 46 police and customs officers found drugs "bubbling away" in a complex Hughes said was stacked with drums of chemicals and equipment.
An initial assessment of the chemicals found in the warehouses estimated there was enough to produce 1,000kg of crystal methamphetamine, he said.
The estimated value of the seizure -- F$1 billion (US$540 million) -- equated to the small amount of methamphetamine that police discovered plus the amount that could have been produced with the chemicals found during the raid.
Hughes said the laboratory had the capacity to produce 500kg of the drug each week.
The drug-producing operation was detected by a joint Fiji customs and police transnational crime unit established 14 months ago. They waited until Wednesday to raid the operation because it only just started producing the drugs, Hughes said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS