Fijian and Tongan police officers participated in a three-day virtual training on maritime drug trafficking this week.
Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho said the training, facilitated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was a huge boost for the two countries.
He said the training would increase the effectiveness of police ability to tackle drug trafficking within the different exclusive economic zones.
Brig-Gen Qiliho said the Pacific region was susceptible to the impacts of the illegal drug trade, “and we are all impacted one way or the other”.
He told participants the UNODC training would improve collective efforts in protecting both countries and the Pacific from the impacts of the illicit drug trade, particularly as nations were still recovering from the global pandemic.
“We need to utilise every opportunity to ensure we are not caught in a crisis within a crisis.
“This will make work much more difficult and many generations will suffer if we do not act now.”
The UNODC training was facilitated by Raja Sekaran, a former senior police officer with the Singapore Police Force.
