DistantNews
Support us
🇳🇿 New Zealand /Crime & Justice

Pacific news in brief

From RNZ Pacific · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape will personally oversee the Correctional Services following two recent prison escapes, including one where three inmates were shot dead.
  • Fiji's Police Minister reported over NZ$3 billion in illicit drugs circulating in the country over three years, though joint operations have reduced drug cases.
  • Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea agreed to strengthen police cooperation, while Tuvalu's Police Commissioner called for UN support for regional maritime security and law enforcement.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape is taking personal charge of the Correctional Services after two significant prison escapes. The move follows an incident at Baisu prison where three inmates were killed and five injured while attempting to escape. Crumbling infrastructure was cited as a cause for the jailbreak. In a separate incident, 38 inmates escaped from Kerevat prison in East New Britain and remain at large.

In Fiji, Police Minister Ioane Naivalurua revealed that illicit drugs worth over NZ$3 billion have circulated in the country over the past three years. While $1.2 million has been allocated to establish a Counter-Narcotics Bureau, the minister noted that joint police and military operations have led to a nearly one-third reduction in drug-related cases in the first quarter of the current financial year. The government has also paid out over FJ$7.4 million in compensation to former Vatukoula mine workers, with nearly 300 beneficiaries receiving their full entitlement.

The security threats across the Pacific are increasingly interconnected, and require stronger cooperation between neighbouring countries.

— John PundariPapua New Guinea's police minister John Pundari commented on the agreement to strengthen police cooperation between Vanuatu and PNG.

Meanwhile, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea have agreed to enhance cooperation between their police forces, a move aimed at improving law enforcement, intelligence sharing, and regional security. Vanuatu's internal affairs minister and PNG's police minister signed the agreement, emphasizing the need for stronger collaboration due to interconnected security threats in the Pacific. Separately, Tuvalu's Police Commissioner appealed to the United Nations for increased support for regional security, calling for UN coordination frameworks to bolster maritime security, law enforcement capacity, climate-crime responses, and prosecution efforts. He highlighted Tuvalu's responsibility for a vast ocean area with limited policing resources.

Tuvalu - a nation of 11,000 people - is responsible for safeguarding more than 750,000 square kilometres of ocean with limited policing capacity.

— Matatia MakailiTuvalu's Police Commissioner Matatia Makaili spoke to the United Nations General Assembly Summit about the need for more support for regional security.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by RNZ Pacific. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog