Ammunition

Three shipments were seized at the Custom Warehouse in Vava’u and one shipment was seized from one of the bondage Warehouse in Tongatapu.

Police arrested three men in relation to these shipments.

The suspects are a  43-year-old man from Kameli Vava’u, who has been charged with the importation of firearms and over 20,000 various ammunition without licence and  a 45-year-old man from Leimatu’a.

The third suspect is a 74-year-old man from Neiafu who has been charged with  importation of firearms and ammunition without licence.

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.

Customs said a search of the boat led to the seizure of a large quantity of a mix of ammunition.

Revenue and Custom chief executive Visvanath Das said the agency's intelligence and profiling processes were determining high-risk vessels and collaborative efforts with Fiji police and the navy led to the seizure.

He said customs last weekend discovered a massive drug find on an Australian-based yacht and now officers had exposed another smuggling attempt.