Maritime Drug Trafficking Training


A three day virtual training on Maritime Drug Trafficking began this morning for law enforcement stakeholders from Fiji and Tonga.

The Training is being facilitated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and is aimed at developing skills and knowledge on critical elements relating to investigations of maritime drug trafficking cases.

Fiji's Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho said he was glad to see participation from fellow Police and lae enforcement officers from Tonga.

“I am truly appreciative of this opportunity for us to network, and bounce ideas off each other, so we are able to achieve increased effectiveness in our ability to tackle drug trafficking within our respective Exclusive Economic Zones”.

He adds the Pacific region is susceptible to the impacts of the illegal drug trade, and we are all impacted one way or the other.

Brigadier General Qiliho reminded participants that the training opportunity provided by UNODC will improve collective efforts in protecting both countries and the Pacific from the impacts of the illicit drug trade, particularly as nations are still recovering from the global pandemic crisis.

“We need to utilize every opportunity to ensure we are not caught in a crisis within a crisis, as this will make work much more difficult and many generations will suffer if we do not act now”.

The UNODC training is being facilitated by Mr Raja Sekaran a former senior Police Officer with the Singapore Police Force.

Mr Sekaran has knowledge and experience in Maritime Policing Operations, Command Centre Operations and Cybersecurity Operations, and was appointed as the Head of the Maritime Training Centre at the Singapore Police Coast Guard where he introduced technology and innovative solutions.