High cost of living, drugs and unemployment have led youths into criminal activities in Wailea

Some residents living in Wailea Settlement in Suva have raised concerns that the high cost of living, drugs and unemployment have led most of their youths to follow the wrong crowd and commit crimes due to peer pressure.

In an interview with a young man who wished to remain anonymous, the 20-year-old says since dropping out of school, he has ended up following the wrong crowd and peddling drugs and has gotten involved in some robberies that he deeply regrets.

The man adds that since dropping out of school, he is unable to find any work while his mother has to support them from Australia but it is not enough to meet their daily needs.

He says a lot of parents are not aware of what their children as young as 14 are doing when they send them to school.

The 20 year old adds that some students always take their clothes to change from their uniform with them and end up in billiard shops in Nausori or Suva during school hours.

The man says some residents in the informal settlement have reported cases of drug dealing and robberies to the police but they claim that nothing has been done while the situation keeps getting worse.

He also says that he cannot apply for the $180 Inflation Mitigation Assistance as he is not part of any tertiary education system.

Meanwhile, Police Chief Operations Officer, ACP Abdul Khan says Police have acted on information provided and it has led to the arrest of those involved in illegal activities. ACP Khan adds that they are not only focused on Wailea but other settlements as information gathered and supplied are followed up.

He adds that apart from Police, they are are fortunate to have the business community coming on board to support community policing engagements in informal settlements which assists them in reducing crime related activities and they have proven to be successful.