16 January, 2026, 1:45 am Central - 23°C Clouds

Alleged drug smuggler Justin Ho facing charges of bribing and giving false or misleading documents to Senior Customs Officer

Alleged drug smuggler Justin Ho facing charges of bribing and giving false or misleading documents to Senior Customs Officer

By Vijay Narayan
22/06/2024

Justin Ho, one of the persons charged in relation to the $2 billion methamphetamine busts earlier this year and who had his case in court discontinued in 2020 after the cocaine seized in that case went missing from Namaka Police Station, is also facing charges laid by FICAC in 2014.

He is facing one count of bribery and one count of false or misleading documents.

It is alleged that between the 1st and 22nd of October 2014, Ho offered an advantage in the sum of $500 to a Senior Customs Officers at the Customs Intelligence Unit in Nadi as an inducement for the Senior Customs Officer to release a consignment containing prohibited goods.

It is further alleged that on 22nd October 2014, Justin Ho produced two TIN Letters of two private individuals knowing the documents were false.

The hearing date for the FICAC case is fixed for 9th to 13th September 2024.

In the 2020 case, it was alleged that former Fiji Airways Flight Attendant Fredrick Epeli and Justin Ho on 23rd December 2018, without lawful authority, attempted to export 2015.7 grams of cocaine to Sydney, Australia.

Following the disappearance of the cocaine, the two men were acquitted of their charges as the DPP had to file a discontinuance in court. Two police officers were suspended pending the outcome of the investigation into the missing cocaine from the police station.

Police spokesperson, Ana Naisoro had earlier confirmed that Ho and Epeli have been recharged and produced for the 2018 charges.

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