First mandatory life sentence for drugs exporter in Tonga [1]
Thursday, August 17, 2023 - 22:07. Updated on Thursday, August 17, 2023 - 22:09.
By Linny Folau
A 45 year old man who exported methamphetamine from Tonga is the first person to receive a mandatory life sentence under a tough new drugs law.
Nomani Kama Manulevu (45) from Nukuhetulu was sentenced to life imprisonment for the unlawful exportation of 29.7 kgs of methamphetamine that was concealed in a refrigerated container to New Zealand in 2021.
Justice Cooper sentenced him to life imprisonment, after he was found guilty by a jury on 10 August, at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa.
It is understood that the accused is the first to be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment under new amendments to the Illicit Drugs Control Act introduced in December 2020. The new provisions provide that a person convicted of importing or exporting a class A illicit drug such as methamphetamine or cocaine, above a certain weight, will receive a mandatory life imprisonment sentence.
The provisions were introduced to impose tougher sentences for persons who import or export class A illicit drugs.
Offending
The court heard that on 30 July 2021, Marine Vessel Liloa II arrived in Auckland, and onboard the vessel was a refrigerated container of frozen produce exported from Tongatapu.
The refrigerated container was exported by Fungamahofa Exports Ltd, to R & J Pacific Trading Ltd. in New Zealand. Both companies were owned by Ronnie Kivalu and his wife Jessie Forbes, who both reside in New Zealand.
On 9 August 2021, New Zealand Police and Customs identified and seized the illicit drugs in the consignment.
The defendant who was the representative of Fungamahofa Exports Ltd. in Tonga was responsible for the exportation of the refrigerated container, and the loading and exportation of the refrigerated container filled with sacks of produce such as cassava and taro, bought from commercial farmers.
The consignments in refrigerated containers exported by the defendant were not limited to frozen produce only. Sometimes, individuals would provide consignments of kava powder, frozen seafood and Tongan mats to be exported as well.
In June 2021, Ronnie contacted the defendant to export a refrigerated container of frozen cassava to New Zealand. Ronnie also gave him names of some farmers to approach, and the prices to be fixed for a sack of produce.
Apart from the cassava, Ronnie Kivalu and the defendant also made arrangements for kava to be exported in the refrigerated container. The defendant successfully made arrangements with some farmers for produce available for sale, and an empty refrigerated container for use.
Normally, loading of refrigerated containers for export overseas would be done at the Queen Salote Wharf. However, there were technical issues with the electric container socket at the wharf, which meant that the refrigerated container would not function for loading there. Once the empty refrigerated container was obtained, the defendant made enquiries as to other known locations in Tongatapu with electric sockets compatible for a refrigerated container at Hala’ovave.
The defendant and the owner made arrangements for the refrigerated container to be stationed, and loaded there. The empty refrigerated container was then transported to Hala’ovave, and loading started.
In addition, it is protocol that a Quarantine Officer from MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry) would be present at the loading site, to inspect and record the loaded consignments. The Quarantine Officer that was present would provide the lock for the container to ensure no one tampered with the container.
The Quarantine Officer will lock the container after a day of loading, leave with the keys, and return the following day to unlock the container for loading to resume.
For this particular container, the Quarantine Officer did not have a lock, so he asked the defendant to buy one. The defendant then bought a lock from a Chinese shop, located a few metres from the loading site. The lock came with three keys.
The defendant only gave the Quarantine Officer two keys and kept one for himself. The defendant re-assured him that the lock only came with two keys.
About July 2021, Ronnie Kivalu later contacted the defendant to retrieve two bags from a house at Tatakamotonga, and load them into the container. The bags were locked inside a room at the house. The keys to that room were inside a vehicle which had been shipped from New Zealand to Tonga. The vehicle was already at the wharf, and the defendant was to pick it from there.
The defendant later picked up the key from the wharf as instructed. The key was in a door compartment inside the vehicle.
Fake name on document
The defendant then retrieved some kava powder. After the kava was inspected, the defendant and the officer loaded them into the container. The officer also locked the container himself. There were seven sacks of kava loaded into the container. Each sack weighed approximately 20 kgs, and the name of consignee that the defendant provided for the paperwork pertaining to the kava was “Tevita Fe’ao”. That name was a fake name made up by the accused.
On the same day, the kava was loaded the defendant went to Tatakamotonga to pick up the two bags instructed by Ronnie. When he reached the house, he was allowed to enter the house and retrieve the bags.
The defendant opened a room at the house with the key he retrieved from the wharf. He took the two bags and left the residence. On his way back, the defendant bought an empty sack from a Chinese shop. The same type of a sack that contained the kava inside the container. He put the bags into the sack, tied it with cable ties and wrote the name “Tevita Fe’ao” on the sack.
The defendant then went to the loading site. He was the only one there. He unlocked the container with the remaining key he kept and loaded the sack inside. He placed it together with the sacks of kava. The defendant was the only person who had kava exported in the refrigerated container.
New Zealand Police and Customs
Upon arrival to New Zealand, the Police and Customs discovered that the sack labelled “Tevita Fe’ao” contained the two bags. Both bags contained a large quantity of packaged crystallised substance. They later confirmed that the substance was methamphetamine, and that it weighed 29.7 kgs altogether.
On 23 August 2021, the New Zealand authorities informed Tonga Police of their investigation and its progress. On 9 September 2021, the Police executed a search to the defendant’s residence at Nukuhetulu. Nothing unlawful was found.
The defendant was arrested after that search for the exportation of an illicit drug. Police also seized the defendant’s mobile phones from his residence.
The Defendant who chose to reamin silent, had no previous convictions.