By Lagi Keresoma<\/p>\n
APIA, SAMOA \u2013 08 FEBRURY 2022:<\/strong>\u00a0At least 20 police officers are now under investigation for alleged connections to the rapidly rising drug problem in Samoa.<\/p>\n The Acting Police Commissioner, Afamasaga Samuelu Afamasaga confirmed with\u00a0Talamua<\/em>\u00a0today that possibly more police officers would be affected as the investigation progresses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe investigation is based on information seized during the recent drug raids,\u201d Afamasaga said. Such vital information were accessed on material confiscated such as mobile phones, laptops and photographs.<\/p>\n The officers under investigation are from different ranks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police force being the law enforcement agency in the country, we need honest officers to uphold the law,\u201d said Afamasaga.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police force cannot afford corrupt and dishonest officers,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n The investigation has just started and suspension of the officers under investigation will be determined later.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe allegations are serious and we base our decisions on the weight of the evidence and witnesses before we take action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019u. In 2020, a Customs officer was charged for receiving \u2018ice\u2019 hidden in boxes of cereals and children\u2019s\u2019 food packages send to him from overseas.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Lagi Keresoma APIA, SAMOA \u2013 08 FEBRURY 2022:\u00a0At 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\u00a0Talamua\u00a0today that possibly more police officers would be affected as the investigation progresses. \u201cThe investigation is based on information […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[177,188,185],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-9197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-law-order","category-local","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
The prominence of the class drug \u2013 methamphetamine (\u2018ice\u2019) 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.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n