By Linny Folau

A dramatic increase in drugs related arrests in Tonga along with large amounts of Class A drugs seized over the last three years, are shown in statistics presented by Tonga Police this week.

Since 2018, when there were 101 drugs related arrests, the number more than doubled to 274 arrests in 2019, and rose to 285 arrests in 2020. This year 185 have been arrested for drugs offences so far.

Detective Halatoa Taufa, A/Deputy Commissioner Drug Enforcement Taskforce, said the illicit drugs now in Tonga are mainly cannabis, imported cannabis oil, methamphatamine and cocaine.

He showed a graph showing the number of drugs (in grams) seized over recent years, during his presentation at the Tonga National Symposium on Illicit Drugs on Wednesday.

“Drugs fund violent crimes,” he said.

Large seizures included four kilos of methamphetamine in 2018, and 39 kilos of meth in 2019. In 2018, 58 kilos of cocaine was seized and this year more than 14 kilos of cocaine seized, he said.

One way drugs were smuggled into Tonga was by hiding them in the flooring of a 84ft box that was used to ship other goods.

He said Tonga Police had not seized any clandestine laboratories for manufacturing meth in Tonga nor control equipment, but their investigations were ongoing.

Enforcement taskforce

The Drugs Enforcement Taskforce was initiated in April 2018 under the Central Police Station Criminal Investigation Unit and was fully established in February 2019 under the Commissioner of Police. 


There are a total of 14 staff consisting of different units such as the drugs enforcement taskforce with 13 members, a tactical response group with seven members, Detective Dog Unit with three handlers and two dogs, and four crime scene officers in the forensic unit. 


The Drug Enforcement Taskforce is currently under Deputy Commissioner, National Crime and Investigation.

The A/Deputy Commissioner said, some of the challenges Tonga Police faced included limited human and technical resources, training and law enforcement capability, investigation and forensic capability, the geographic location of Tonga and national, regional and international cooperation.

“This area of work is also high risk,” he said.

He emphasised the importance and need for national efforts like this national symposium to tackle the problem of illicit drugs in Tonga.