Children peddlers
‘PRB flats around Suva used for drug trafficking’
CHILDREN living in Public Rental Board (PRB) flats around Suva are being used to sell and courier drugs.W
This according to PRB general manager Timoci Naleba during an interview with the media yesterday.
He said that was one of the reasons closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras were installed in PRB flats around Suva.
“We are trying to curb these types of activities, especially drugs, different types of drugs that have been sold now in the market,” Mr Naleba said.
“So, you know the children are being used as well to sell them.
“Kids can be used to take them to different locations and from that location they are picked up by the adult or the customer.
“These have been documented and they have also been shared with the police.
“As I’ve said, this suspicion is there, but to actually have them apprehended, we haven’t really come to that point yet.”
He said children learnt from their parents’ behaviour and when they became youths, they would play out the same behaviour.
“If you look at the behaviour of our youth, it’s a culmination of the things or the behaviour that they have seen in the past.
“Children learn from their parents and because of that, the youths now have behaviours that are very violent sometimes.
“As you’ve seen in the past, it’s been reported that most of them are now having gangs being established.
“That they normally go to other estates and fight to solve some of their problems in that manner.”
Mr Naleba said that CCTV surveillance was being done in PRB flats that were in “red zone” areas like Nabua, Nadera and Raiwai.
“It (PRB) is where you start a family and then you move out.
“But there are so many families that are in our estates now, most of them have children and the fact that these things are happening concerning our children.
“So, our attention now is on the children. That’s why we have the CCTV cameras.”
Mr Naleba said they were now constructing toilets and bathrooms within the buildings rather than outside, as was the case in the past.