SUSPENDED: Two senior police officers implicated in leaking raid warrants

By Lagi Keresoma

Apia, SAMOA – 20 January 2026 – Two senior police officers have been suspended while they are investigated for their involvement in the leaking of a warrant to execute a police raid on illegal drug suspects.

Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt who is also the Minister of Police said such behaviour is unacceptable as it places the lives of police in danger and betrays the trust police have in its officers.

He emphasized that the leaks are internal and would name the officers in next week’s press conference.

He said the mobile phones obtained in police raids found a copy of the search warrant he signed and traced the phone the warrant was sent from to a police officer.

The leaked warrant resulted in an unsuccessful police raid on some of the suspects who cleared out before police arrived.

He said police officers who leaked and informed the suspects have no place in the service and have betrayed the trust placed in them and placed the lives of other officers in real danger.

The Prime Minister insisted that the current level of the illegal drugs problem should have been addressed ten years ago.

But it seems little to nothing was done allowing the illegal drugs trade to take root and building supply and trade networks that now expose the involvement of government officials, police and now women in the villages.

He questioned what previous governments, previous Ministers of Police and Police Commissioners had done to address the problem and allowing it to build to the level his government is now trying to clean up.

Government is into the fourth month of a yearlong national campaign to rid Samoa of illegal drugs and sending those involved in drugs including police officers who leaked information to prison is a message that the Government has zero tolerance to such police behaviour.

The “Say No to Illegal Drugs” campaign in progress and several villages have stepped in to assist in the police by providing police intel as evident in the recent raid at Salelologa where more than ten people including women are in police custody awaiting their appearance in court.

Church ministers are also playing their part in addressing the problem by speaking against illegal drugs in their regular sermons according to the Prime Minister.