By 1News Reporters and is republished with permission
Gangsters with New Zealand ties and a top businessman are among 17 people arrested following the alleged importation and sale of methamphetamine in Tonga.
The police operation used intelligence from across the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, and the United States.
The busts are all linked and include Comanchero gang members.
“There’s been a clear intent for the Comancheros to expand their reach and, in so doing, to start up a chapter,” Tonga Police Commissioner Shane McLennan told 1News.
Among those arrested is Eneasi Taumoefolau, a senior patched member who had been deported from Australia in October 2022. For more than a year, Taumoefolau was living the high life in one of Nuku’alofa’s top hotels, which he posted on TikTok.
A businessman and civil servants were also arrested.
As well as the arrests, police have seized eight cars and gang paraphernalia, including 90 Comanchero t-shirts and 13 patches.
Exclusive 1News investigation into gangs, drugs, guns, corruption allegations in Tonga
Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been uncovering how the drug trade is exploding, its destructive effects infiltrating every echelon of society.
“Tonga, being a very small kingdom, their presence and any sort of outlaw motorcycle element is one of major concern,” McLennan said.
He called the arrests in the past week-and-a-half “a significant milestone”.
Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi ‘Ofakivahafolau Sovaleni said the authorities are “doing the best we can right now but that doesn’t mean we’re at the place we should be given the challenges that we’re facing”.
Sovaleni claimed, however, that drug use is decreasing at the village level.
But the streets of downtown Nuku’alofa paint a different picture. Within a block, 1News could see three men high on drugs asking for money.
Police believe some of the methamphetamine imported into the kingdom was organised by an inmate from within the jail.
One recent inmate told 1News ice is widely available behind bars.
“It surprised me,” they said. “When I got inside, there’s more inside.”
