An undated handout photo from the New Zealand Defence Force showing the Royal New Zealand Navy vessel ‘HMNZS Manawanui’ retrieving 3.2 tonnes of cocaine adrift in the Pacific. — AFP
A SURGE of drugs is engulfing the paradisal South Pacific as cartels and triads use far-flung island nations to channel narcotics across the globe, say top police and United Nations officials.
Pacific islands such as Fiji and Tonga sit at the crossroads of largely unpatrolled ocean-trafficking routes used to shift cocaine from Latin America and methamphetamine and opioids from Asia.
