By Linny Folau
Fine Tevita Fifita (31) and Vaivevea Mafi (45) are serving life imprisonment after being found guilty on charges that included the unlawful importation of 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine that was concealed inside a crate in a container shipped from the United States of America.
After a trial in the Supreme Court, Nuku’alofa, Justice Tupou on 6 June, found Fifita guilty of three counts relating to the unlawful importation of the methamphetamine seized on 27 April, 2023 at the Queen Salote Wharf in Ma'ufanga.
He was also found guilty of offering to bribe a member of the Tonga Police when he offered to give Sergeant Sione Punaivaha money to induce him to refrain from carrying out his duty as a Police Officer. He also offered to bribe a government servant, when he offered money to ‘Iuna Fifita, a Customs Officer to induce her to abstain from doing her duty, by not reporting the suspected illicit items found in the buckets he possessed.
Another count was withdrawn by the Prosecution.
The co-accused Vaivevea Mafi, was found guilty on one count of unlawful importation of 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine.
The Crown called eight witnesses and produced 13 documents with the consent of both accused.
The court heard that in April 2023, the MV Mount Cameron arrived in Tonga and was carrying cargo originating from the USA. Inside a container, there was a 4x4 crate from a shipper/exporter named Lolani Finau directed to the consignee named Vaivevea Mafi, the second accused.
The judge stated that Mrs Kaho who was the Manager for S.F. Oceania Ltd. company in Tonga at the time, attended to Vaivevea Mafi on 27 April, 2023, to clear her crate. Kaho noted that the crate was originally consigned to a third party before it was changed to Mafi’s name on 13 April, 2023.
According to her, such change was possible, only if done by the consignor, Lolani Finau. On the day in question she verified Mafi’s identity, printed the Bill of Lading (BOL) and handed the paperwork to the customs officers already there to inspect cargo. The contents of the crate were described on the BOL as clothes, shoes, soap, purses and candy.
The second witness, Customs Officer ‘Iuna Fifita, was posted at the S.F. Oceania Ltd. warehouse in Ma’ufanga as part of team dispatched to inspect the cargo on the shipment on 27 April, 2023. She received the BOL and Importer Authorisation and Declaration Form for Mafi’s crate.
The IAD form was filled out by the accused’s broker and signed by Fifita, which declared: knowledge of the contents of the consignment; including that it did not contain prohibited or restricted goods (such as illicit drugs).
Officer ‘Iuna Fifita supervised the inspection the crate. She told the court that she noticed the accused Fifita and not Mafi inside the estricted area for the necessary inspection. She observed Fifita joining in to help unload the crate. She described Fifita’s demeanour as abnormal and unsettled. She saw him take out from the crate a bucket labelled laundry powder.
He placed the bucket among the items from the crate that were already inspected. Iuna suspected that it may contain the alcohol declared on the IAD form and called for the bucket to be brought to her for inspection. She told the court that this is also a known means of concealing drugs.
She found the bucket was difficult to open. The lid was tightly sealed as if it was glued. After she managed to open the lid, she reached inside. Her hand touched something and discovered a package wrapped in black material. She asked Fifita what it was, he warned her in Tongan which translated, “don’t, it’s for smoking and I will give you money”. She understood he was proposing to bribe her to close the bucket and for them to deal with the matter on the side.
The witness added that she felt scared and called out to Police Officer Pekipaki as it was the first time she encountered anything of the sort. After Pekipaki took over, she said there were a total of four buckets in the consignment. Only two of the buckets contained suspicious packages and they detained those buckets ready for transfer to the Customs headquarters at the Queen Salote Wharf. The other two buckets were returned to the crate
At the same time, Sergeant Tu’amelie Fifita gave evidence for the Crown. As a police officer and member of the Police Drugs Squad, he stated that on 27 April, 2023 he and several other officers of his squad responded to the call from the Customs office at Queen Salote Wharf in regards to the the black packages in the offending buckets. His role was to conduct the presumptive testing of the packages using the trunarc test machine.
He described the package found in bucket one, as shown in exhibits, was covered in black material with a second layer of white tape inside and another photo showed his hand holding that first package.
He explained that the test was done with the white powder contained in its packet. The result came back positive for methamphetamine and was shown to both the accused.
The package from the second bucket was wrapped in white plastic, followed by a layer of three carbon sheets and then tape. This content also tested positive for methamphetamine. Again, the results were shown to the accused.
Knowledge of the meth
The judge stated that the following proven facts supported the notion that Fifita had actual knowledge of the' presence of methamphetamine in the consignment: the use of Mafi’s name as the consignee, and the ingenuine reason behind it; the exchange of messages on facebook; the false declarations on the IAD form, among others.
“In addition, his telling Officer 'Iuna that the package was “stuff for smoking” and by his own suggestion to 'Iuna and admission during his evidence that he had said it was “ice”, his bribe of 'Iuna with money after she discovered the first offending package; his bribe of Punaivaha with money to prevent his arrest, noting that both bribes occurred prior to any testing of the content of the said packages or confirmation that they contained methamphetamine.”
The judge rejected his evidence where inconsistent with that of the Prosecution witnesses. For those reasons, she was satisfied that the Prosecution had proven beyond any reasonable doubt and was sure that Fifita on 27 April, 2023 at Ma’ufanga, did knowingly without lawful excuse imported 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine.
“As for Mafi, she was a willing party in all of this and knew that the crate contained illicit drugs. She agreed to be the consignee and I am not persuaded of the reason for using her name. Their conduct in getting the crate released did not support the excuse. Mafi’s single task in the process of clearing the consignment was to provide her identification card to obtaining the BOL.
“From that point onwards, she allowed Fifita and he willingly proceeded to the restricted area for consignees and took care of whatever was required to clear the crate. That was not conduct of someone who did not know how clearing a crate worked.”
The judge added that strategically, Mafi required a convenience stop after receiving the BOL leaving Fifita to do the job. There was no evidence as to why the completion of the IAD form and clearing of the crate could not wait until Mafi was present, she added.
“Mafi also admitted she saw the photos at P13 including the packages of white powder in which Fifita admitted was illicit drugs. She also candidly admitted she was suspicious. That suspicion ought to have triggered an inquiry on her part to find out the truth about the content of the crate and suspicious circumstances under which it was changed to her name while in passage,” she stated.
“Mafi made no such inquiry and I therefore find that she deliberately shut her eyes to the obvious and refrained from inquiry because she suspected the truth but did not wish to have her suspicion confirmed imputing knowledge.
“Accordingly, I am satisfied that the Prosecution has discharged its burden and proven beyond any reasonable doubt so that I am sure that Mafi on 27 April, 2023 at Ma’ufanga, did knowingly, without lawful excuse imported 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine, a class A illicit drug.”
The judge also found the other charges proven and convicted them accordingly.
After the delivery of the verdict, the Director for Public Prosecutions submitted that the accused be sentenced. Pursuant to s.3(e) of the Illicit Drugs Control Act, the judge sentenced both to life imprisonment each on the importation counts.
