In the early morning of June 09 2004, a joint team of about 50 Fiji Customs and Police officers simultaneously raided two warehouses, two residential homes and a business complex, in relation to the setup of a clandestine lab. Two locals and four nationals were arrested, all of Asian background.

The clan lab, a first for Fiji, was set up in one of the warehouses raided and was being used to manufacture MethyleneDioxyMethAmphetamine
(MDMA) and Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS). Four kgs of “ICE” was recovered from the lab.

The lab is situated at an industrial area, 4 km from the city of Suva. The second warehouse was used to store chemicals and equipment that was to be used for the clan lab.

The operation, codenamed, “Operation Outrigger”, was recorded as the largest drug haul to be discovered in the region in the history of Customs. It commenced in November 2002, from an intelligence probe by the Fiji Transnational Crime Unit (TCU), into the criminal activities of one of the locals that were arrested on the day of the raid.

The Unit, recently setup in 2002 and referred to as the Transnational Crime Unit, consists of Customs Intelligence and Police officers who operate out of the newly refurbished Fiji Customs office in Suva. Information gathered, strongly indicated the suspect to be associated with members of the South East Asian Organized Crime (SEAOC) syndicate.

Continuous surveillance, by specially trained Customs Intelligence officers, and exchange of intelligence with Royal Malaysian Police (RMP), Australian Federal Police (AFP), New Zealand Police (NZP), and Hong Kong Police (HKP), indicated that a clandestine lab was to be set up in Fiji. The suspect and his wife were to oversee the establishment of this clandestine laboratory’s operation.

In October 2003, enquiries conducted by members of the TCU revealed that a company was being set up by the suspect and his wife, as a front, to facilitate the importation and purchase of the precursor chemicals, equipment and other accessories required for the production of MDMA/ATS. Customs officers examined a container consigned to the company, and discovered a van containing chemicals and equipment for the lab.

The container was shipped from Hong Kong.