'Tesla' cocaine bricks found washed up on Fiji beach

Sevuloni Tagimoce found one of the cocaine bricks on his local beach. (ABC News: supplied) Link copiedShareShare articleLocals on Fiji's Komo Island have a saying: the place is so beautiful that every day is like Christmas day. The remote islands, a full three days' sail from the capital Suva, are like a tropical postcard, with the small population of 200 people living a simple life. But even on these islands, so far from the bright lights of any city, the small population is being drawn into a dark world they know very little about. "When I first saw it, I didn't immediately think of drugs," Komo Island local Sevuloni Tagimoce told the ABC. "It was lying on the beach, on the sand, at the high water mark. "I knew I had to bring it back to the village headman. I needed for him to see it. When I brought it back, he weighed it, and it was exactly one kilogram." Mr Tagimoce had found a brick of cocaine. One of the cocaine bricks with 'Tesla' markings found by the Komo Island locals. (ABC News: Supplied) The ABC can confirm 27 similar 1kg bricks have been found washed ashore in and around Komo Island area over the past few weeks. Depending on the purity of the cocaine, the finds could be worth more than $15 million. Fiji Police revealed another 35 bricks were reported found on nearby Munia Island on Thursday. Fiji is ground zero in the Pacific's drug crisis, with cartels increasingly using the Pacific hub to attempt to bring huge shipments of cocaine and meth through unpoliced stretches of the coast on the way to the highly lucrative Australian market. A recent ABC investigation found Fijian connections to the Alameddine crime network and the KVT, a street gang consisting mostly of young Fijian men. Key insiders from Fiji's largest-ever meth bust say the drug import had alarming links to organised crime in Australia. In January, police seized 2.6 tonnes of cocaine worth $780 million during a raid on a suspected drug operation in the remote north-west of the country. And across the Pacific, since the start of the year, more than 17 tonnes of illicit substances have been discovered, with traffickers using a range of methods to avoid detection on the way to Australia. Mr Tagimoce said the 1kg parcel he found was tied to a balloon or floating device — a method smugglers use to transfer small amounts of narcotics from a larger vessel, or mothership, onto smaller ones for delivery into Australia. At least seven narco subs have been discovered in Pacific waters in recent years, signalling a troubling new reality. The bricks of cocaine found near his island have been reported to have similar flotation devices. Mr Tagimoce's nephew, Jone Ledua, told the ABC at the time of their discovery two weeks ago, there were "yachts sailing up and down" the coast. "As soon as we wake up, there's one yacht going up, another one coming down, another coming from the side," he said. "When we go to fish in the uninhabited islands, we see suspicious yachts in the area too. The use of private yachts has become a common method for drug smugglers to transfer product in the region, with Vanuatu police in March finding close to two tonnes of product inside an abandoned yacht. The cocaine bricks found on Komo Island had 'Tesla' markings (ABC News: supplied ) Recent bad weather in Fiji meant the 27 cocaine bricks were still with the communities who found them until the weekend, with most islands so remote that they do not have a police presence. Mr Ledua said the Kumo Island community were aware of the types of people involved in the drug smuggling trade, and they were nervous. "These drugs were here for [almost three] weeks and were not been picked up, and that was a worry for us. "We had been thinking [maybe] they will come looking for their drugs?". Setting off from Panama just before Christmas, police say the MV Raider started its journey towards Sydney with almost 6 tonnes of cocaine aboard worth nearly $2 billion. Fiji Police said the 27 bricks were being tested in the capital Suva and a crew had been deployed to retrieve the 35 bricks found on nearby Munia Island. "We would advise those living along our coastline to report any suspicious finds and not to open packages," a spokeswoman said. The recent cocaine find in Fiji comes as its police force and military continue a highly visible "joint taskforce" crackdown on drug-related gang activity in the country. Fiji's government believed the threat to public safety was so real that the country's prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, last month flirted with the idea of declaring a state of emergency in the country, which would give the military and police special powers. The suspected murder of a Fijian underworld figure held in military custody has sparked a new chapter in the island nation's wrestle with drug-related crimes. That idea was later abandoned, but the joint crackdown continues with heavily armed police and military officers conducting raids and check

'Tesla' cocaine bricks found washed up on Fiji beach

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