Police Officers Investigated for alleged Drug Connections

By Lagi Keresoma

APIA, SAMOA – 08 FEBRURY 2022: At least 20 police officers are now under investigation for alleged connections to the rapidly rising drug problem in Samoa.

The Acting Police Commissioner, Afamasaga Samuelu Afamasaga confirmed with Talamua today that possibly more police officers would be affected as the investigation progresses.

“The investigation is based on information seized during the recent drug raids,” Afamasaga said. Such vital information were accessed on material confiscated such as mobile phones, laptops and photographs.

The officers under investigation are from different ranks.

“The police force being the law enforcement agency in the country, we need honest officers to uphold the law,” said Afamasaga.

“The police force cannot afford corrupt and dishonest officers,” he emphasized.

The investigation has just started and suspension of the officers under investigation will be determined later.

“The Police Executive ordered the investigation based on information received and we cannot make decisions based on assumptions but after we have concrete evidence to warrant a suspension,” he said.

“The allegations are serious and we base our decisions on the weight of the evidence and witnesses before we take action,” he said.

The prominence of the class drug – methamphetamine (‘ice’) as confiscated in recent police raids, has raised serious concern that the problem had been in Samoa for some time and especially around the Apia town area.

Several MPs raised the issue in Parliament last week, urging that the border controls be strengthened and more canines be employed to keep the problem out.

However, police suspect the drug is now manufactured locally. A major police raid before Christmas led to the charging of a senior public servant and several others from Nu’u. In 2020, a Customs officer was charged for receiving ‘ice’ hidden in boxes of cereals and children’s’ food packages send to him from overseas.

Last year, a prominent MP told parliament that it seemed the police were raiding marijuana farms in the rural villages when the problem of methamphetamine was right in front of the police in Apia.