Cocaine worth $14 million went missing from Fiji court evidence depot
Police launched an inquiry after seven of 39 evidence packages disappeared and remaining samples tested as flour; tests in February and July 2019 and transfer to the High Court in 2021 are cited.
Fiji police have opened an investigation after cocaine stored as evidence in two court cases was found to be missing or tampered with, authorities announced.
Investigators discovered that seven of 39 packages of cocaine used as evidence in one case were missing. Subsequent testing of the remaining packages showed the cocaine had been replaced with flour; the drug had an estimated value of $14 million.
Evidence testing and chain of custody
Forensic tests on the evidence in February and July 2019 detected cocaine, but the material was later moved to the High Court in 2021. Police say that during the period after transfer the substitution was identified.
Officials also confirmed that cocaine held as evidence in a separate case is missing, prompting the wider probe.
Six people are the subject of the police investigation as authorities work to determine how the packages disappeared or were manipulated and whether there was any breach in the evidence custody chain.
Photo: press material from the event
