Landowners to be taken to task if marijuana is planted on their land - Qiliho

Police will now look at the law dealing with illicit drugs and take the landowners to task if marijuana is planted on their land.

Commissioner of Police Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho made this clear during a talanoa session after the Kadavu Provincial Council meeting in Tavuki.

He says they have noticed a new trend where the response from the villagers is that they don’t know whose marijuana farm it is, yet the farm is near the village.

Qiliho says Police have explored all avenues through the Vanua, Church and Community policing to address the cultivation of marijuana on the island, and they are now going to relook at the Illicit Drugs Control Act and focus on landowners.

He says the Turaga Na Tui Naceva had earlier made a request to him if a new vehicle could be brought for the police station and for Police to assist them in the fight against drugs

The Commissioner says they have been targeting the cultivators and used drones to locate the farms.

However when they left, the cultivation started again.

He says they are being told the landowners do not know who is planting the drugs.

Qiliho stresses that if it is your land, it is your authority as the landowner to know what is being planted on your land.

He added that they are having to take this hard stance because they care about the future generations of Kadavu because if this is the situation now, they are worried about what the Kadavu of 10-years will be like.

Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama says the involvement of the people of Kadavu in the marijuana trade is very concerning where many of them have ended in our prison facilities and St Giles Hospital in Suva.

Bainimarama expressed his concerns about the involvement of the people of Kadavu in the illegal drug trade and that we should all be concerned.

Bainimarama says they need the Kadavu Provincial Council to support the Fiji Police Force’s efforts on the war on drugs.