Police claimed they smashed the biggest methamphetamine lab ever uncovered in the Southern Hemisphere after raiding a factory Tuesday in Fiji's capital and seizing drugs and enough chemicals to make US$540 million worth of the party drug "ice."
The raids on three warehouses on Suva's outskirts underscored recent warnings by Australia and New Zealand that South Pacific islands could become havens for international organized crime if they don't boost policing, end corruption and bolster their economies.
The illegal drugs were headed for markets in Australia, New Zealand, US and Europe, Fiji police commissioner Andrew Hughes said.
Seven people, including four Asians and three Fijians, were arrested and being questioned by police, Hughes said. They may appear in court Thursday, he said. Their identities and the nationalities of the non-Fijians were not disclosed.
Fiji's parliament is debating tougher drug laws that would increase sentences for serious drug offenses from a maximum of 20 years to life in prison, and increase fines that can be imposed to up to F$1 million (US$540,000).
Hughes said the laboratory, on an industrial estate, was set up to produce the party drug methamphetamine, known as "ice," in what he called the largest such laboratory ever found in the hemisphere.
Dozens of officers involved in the raids wore special chemical resistant overalls as they searched the buildings.
"This is a frightening example of transnational organized crime elements using Fiji as a staging ground for their illegal activities," Hughes told reporters. "Increasingly we are seeing these elements coming to Fiji and joining up with local organized criminal groups."
Some 46 police and customs officers found drugs "bubbling away" in a complex Hughes said was stacked with drums of chemicals and equipment.
An initial assessment of the chemicals found in the warehouses estimated there was enough to produce 1,000kg of crystal methamphetamine, he said.
The estimated value of the seizure -- F$1 billion (US$540 million) -- equated to the small amount of methamphetamine that police discovered plus the amount that could have been produced with the chemicals found during the raid.
Hughes said the laboratory had the capacity to produce 500kg of the drug each week.
The drug-producing operation was detected by a joint Fiji customs and police transnational crime unit established 14 months ago. They waited until Wednesday to raid the operation because it only just started producing the drugs, Hughes said.
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