Police continue Kadavu ops
More marijuana plants continue to be uprooted in Kadavu as another team moves in to continue the efforts of eradicating the illicit trade.
This past week more than 1,000 plants were uprooted and bullets of dried leaves tested positive to be marijuana were seized from five different raids.
Chief Operations Officer Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Abdul Khan said to date more than 1.5 tonnes had been uprooted and destroyed in Kadavu.
“A lot of speculation and allegations are made against Police when drug operations are conducted and we assure members of the public that all plants seized to date in Kadavu have been destroyed,” he said.
“We acknowledge the support of the Judiciary as we are able to immediately apply for a court order to have the plants destroyed and all plants seized are taken to a safe location and burnt and no drugs are brought to Suva or kept in our care.”
ACP Khan said the institution maintained the No drug policy and if any officer is found to be involved in drug related activities, as per the standing directive of the Commissioner of Police they would be removed from the institution.
Reduction in overall crime
As drug operations continue in Kadavu a noticeable reduction in overall crime offences has been recorded for Kadavu.
ACP Khan said a 53 per cent reduction was recorded for the period between June 22 to August 31, 2020 compared to 2019.
“While drug offences increased due to the increased tempo of operations, sexual offences dropped from the nine cases recorded in 2019 to one recorded in 2020 for the said operational period,” he said.
“Theft also recorded a decrease whereby three cases were recorded this year in comparison to the eleven cases recorded last year.”
ACP Khan said this was encouraging and believed the increased tempo of operations has led to the decrease in other criminal offences.
“We are committed to eradicating the drug problem in Kadavu and we will continue to send teams in as long as it takes to curb the illicit trade,” he said.