Training Tongan law enforcement officers how to detect concealed drugs, particularly methamphetamine, was the aim of a Drug Identification Course held at the Tonga Defence Services headquarters on March 26-27.

David Sadler the Head of Tonga Customs, said the main objective was to learn from the New Zealand experience of how drugs can be concealed from law enforcement agencies and how methamphetamine can have a devastating impact on the community.

He said New Zealand Customs and Police had donated drug testing equipment for field officers to use as a presumptive test. This early indicator test would allow Tonga Police and Customs to act with more confidence to make further investigations and subsequent actions, he said.

"There was similar training in 2010 but this course was needed to reflect the current trends, in particular the rise in the use of methamphetamine worldwide. Tonga is not immune from such threats and we must educate enforcement officers and those that can assist in the prevention of illicit drugs imported into Tonga."

Over 150 people from Customs, Police, Prisons, Tonga Defence Services, Ministry of Health, Customs Brokers, Aviation Security and Ports Security attended the training conducted by three overseas trainers.

They were Superintendent Ross Ardern the New Zealand Police Pacific Liaison Officer for the South and South West Pacific based in Samoa, Andrew Walker of New Zealand Customs and Dr Robyn Somerville from the Environmental Science and Research Ltd. (ESR), a company that does forensic testing of all drugs, DNA and other testing for New Zealand Police, Customs and other enforcement groups in New Zealand and Pacific.

The training coodinated by Tonga Customs included presentations on drugs trafficking in the Pacific, methods of concealment, presumptive field test kits, changing situation in the Paciic and impacts of methamphetamine among others. Similar training has been held in Samoa, Vanuatu and Cook Islands.

Cocaine

In November last year, more than 200 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated street value of AUD $116 million dollars in Australia, was seized by Tongan authorities on the wreck of the 'JeReVe' yacht that ran aground on a reef off Luatafito Atoll in Vava'u.

Police believed it to be one of the largest seizure of narcotics in the South Pacific region.