Tonga police

“Police located 51 cannabis plants growing inside and outside the ‘Eua High School compound,” said Deputy Commissioner Pelenatita Vaisuai.

The suspect from Tufuvai was arrested by Police as he was watering the plants.

Thirty-three cannabis plants were seized from inside the school compound, and 18 plants were seized from an area immediately outside of the school compound.

A 22-year-old man from Fua’amotu is at Vaiola hospital with injury sustained from a gunshot wound to his stomach during an altercation with the suspect.

Police also seized a .22 rifle from the suspect.

The suspect is in police custody while an investigation continues.

Matangi Tonga reports 59-year-old Paula Naitoko is facing nine charges for engaging with others to import illicit drugs, and for aiding and abetting the importation of illegal firearms and ammunition.

Tonga Police reported its Drug Enforcement Taskforce seized drugs with a street value of more than $US2.5 million dollars.

The haul included methamphetamine, cannabis and cannabis oil, allegedly smuggled into Tonga from the United States.

The suspects are a 33-year-old man of Tofoa, a 40-year-old man of Fua’amotu, a 23-year-old woman of Kolofo’ou and a 33-year-old man of Vaini.

On Tuesday, 30 April 2019 the Drug Enforcement Taskforce arrested the suspects from three different locations.

Police confiscated a total of 228.82 grams of cannabis, a .22 rifle and 587 live bullets in the raids.

All four suspects have been charged accordingly for possession of illicit drugs and for possession of firearm and ammunition without license. They are remanded in police custody to appear in court at a later date.

Following the renewal of Tonga's membership of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the commissioner Stephen Caldwell said it would help Tonga meet the threat of cross border crime, including drug trafficking.

Tonga rejoined INTERPOL in November last year after a 12-year hiatus from the organisation.

In a statement, Mr Caldwell said crime was becoming more complex and Tongan police needed to strengthen cooperation with other agencies.

"We need to share information quickly, and we need to make the world a smaller place for criminals," he said.

The Police Drugs Enforcement Taskforce executed a search warrant at the 41-year-old suspect’s residence in Kanokupolu early Wednesday morning yesterday.

Police officers seized 464 grams of methamphetamine.

Police Dogs were also deployed during the search.

 “As demonstrated by this arrest, we continue to focus on capturing and prosecuting those responsible for the supply of these destructive drugs that cause harm to our youths, families and our community,” said the Commander of the Central Police Station A/CSP Tevita Vailea.

Superintendent Ashley Fua says the Women and Children Crisis Centre helped run a workshop for 28 recruits addressing core questions of fairness, equity and equality and how they treat women.

He said an earlier session revealed gender bias was also hindering the performance of officers in the field.

Mr Fua said the training helped the recruits examine their own attitudes.

"It is quite a reflective session, it asks very hard questions because you're really looking at your Tongan culture and how society looks at women and men.

Stephen Caldwell said he was happy with the significant reduction as it meant there had also been a corresponding reduction in the victims of crime.

In the year ending November, there were 2054 less offences reported than in 2016.

The capital of Nuku'alofa accounts for 70 percent of the nation's crime, but there was an 18 percent drop there.

A third suspect, a 48-year-old man from Kolomotu’a was also arrested from a house at a bush allotment in Lomaiviti, where Police found the stolen laptop and flash drives as well as 4 cannabis plants.

The stolen laptop and flash drives contain critical information and data belonging to a team of medical experts from Australia who are in Nuku'alofa to conduct heart surgery for the next two weeks.

The workshop was hosted by New Zealand Police and supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Australian Federal Police.

The focus of the workshop was on crime prevention methods, crime science, problem oriented policing, family harm and mental health.

Tonga Police (District One, Nuku’alofa) have started operating this model of policing with the support of the New Zealand and Australian funded Tonga Police Development Programme.

Changes have also been implemented to rosters, intelligence gathering, deployment and tasking.