40 kilos of cocaine replaced with flour after going missing from police custody
The drug haul was being held at a courthouse in Fiji, valued at a whopping £10 million Continue reading...
Almost 40 kilograms of cocaine seized by police in Fiji has been replaced with flour after going missing.
The enormous drug haul, worth an estimated 30 million Fijian dollars (£10.4 million), was being stored as evidence at the Suva High Court Registry amidst an ongoing trial over its seizure.
Local media reports that police discovered the theft during an inspection on September 15, finding that seven of the 39 bars of cocaine in storage were completely stolen.
The theft then sparked a full investigation, according to CNN , with police discovering that none of the original seized cocaine remained, and was instead swapped out for flour following forensic testing.
Fiji Police confirmed that tests came back negative for illicit drugs, and that "the exhibits were all tampered with". They confirmed that the investigation focuses on "those directly charged with the management of the exhibits at the High Court Registry".
The cocaine haul was originally seized in 2019. In 2021, the Suva High Court sentenced a man named Joshua Aziz Rahman to 20 years in jail after he was found guilty for being in possession of the large drug haul.
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According to police, a "person of interest allegedly involved in the incident is currently overseas and will be questioned", though they have not confirmed any further details.
"The replacement of the cocaine with flour, whatever it is, that is a sad indictment of … whoever is responsible," said Fijian politician Jone Usamate in parliament (via CNN ). "How do you know now that what is in all those exhibits is really what is claimed to be in the exhibits?"
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