Statement

As assured in an earlier statement, the Criminal Investigations Department have ascertained that an incident in Kalekana which resulted in a 22-year old mechanic sustaining injuries and his vehicle being damaged is in no way linked to human trafficking or abduction.

Six men and a juvenile aged between 17 to 56 years have been charged for various offences which include assault, assault causing actual bodily harm, damaging property, theft and receiving stolen property, as car parts were stripped and given to others and later recovered by investigators.

A total of 12 people were brought in for questioning with 7 charged, and more expected to be brought in soon.

I continue to urge members of the public not to be easily swayed by what they read on social media or from unbalanced articles which do not give stakeholders the opportunity for a right of response.

These articles are intended to create fear and panic and usually with the ulterior motive of gaining social media popularity and followers.

I reiterate once again, the Fiji Police Force will never intentionally not inform or alert the general populace of a crime trend that is a threat to their safety.

Since the release of an official statement where we had corrected the misconception of missing persons linked to abduction, social media posts claiming incidents of alleged abduction attempts have reduced significantly.

This is testament of the fact that such posts in the absence of an official Police report will remain nothing more than fear mongering and a cowardly attempt to create panic for personal gain, that being social media popularity and public attention.

Fijians have nothing to fear and our doors remain open for any individual, group or organization who seek clarity on these issues as we will be more than happy to sit down and provide statistics rather than publicly engage in a public commentary in the hope of avoiding unnecessary panic.

Unless those who claim to be victims of abduction attempts come forward to allow investigations to be conducted, the claims will remain nothing more than just a hoax, and people are asked to disregard such posts and be assured that the Fiji Police Force will investigate all claims if information is provided.

Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho COMMISSIONER OF POLICE