GCC Chair, Ratu Viliame Seruvakula,

The Great Council of Chiefs emphasizes the urgent need for the establishment of a national intelligence network to address the infiltration of illicit drugs into Fiji’s rural villages.

GCC Chair, Ratu Viliame Seruvakula, highlights the necessity for a comprehensive and coordinated approach that would link Fiji to international intelligence agencies capable of identifying and curbing drug sources.

Ratu Viliame expresses concerns that the drug problem in Fiji is being exacerbated by external sources and thus requires a response that goes beyond local efforts.

“It has to be a national intelligence strategy that can talk to other international intelligence networks because they only talk to one another. They don’t talk to small groups, so we need to establish that first before we can address this issue comprehensively.”

The GCC Chair acknowledged the establishment of the Narcotics Bureau by the Ministry of Home Affairs as a significant step in the right direction to prevent the drugs that are coming from outside.

Assistant Police Commissioner ACP Livai Driu thanked people in rural communities for coming forward to report the cultivation of drugs after recent raids in Vanua Balavu and Savusavu.

“I would like to thank the people in the tikina of Tunuloa. This week we have been uprooting huge farms of green leaves or marijuana plants from the two islands.”

The call from the GCC reflects a growing consensus among Fijian leaders on the need for strengthened border security and intelligence-sharing to safeguard rural villages from the rising tide of illicit drugs entering the country.