A Tongan online newspaper has claimed that a recently located missing boat may have been connected to local drug trafficking — a claim that remains unverified by authorities.
Kakalu ‘o Tonga reported the allegations, however, Kaniva News has been unable to obtain further information beyond the brief abstract available, as the paper’s full article remains behind a paywall.
In this case, it remains unclear whether the outlet has provided any evidence to support its allegation, and no official agency has corroborated the claim.
Kaniva News emphasises that there is no verified information linking the vessel or its occupants to any criminal activity.
The allegation remains unsubstantiated, and authorities have not indicated that the case involves drugs or wrongdoing.
As the case of the missing boat unfolded, Tonga Police remained cautious in their public statements, declining to release the names of the rescued passengers and the missing individual, and withholding any details gathered so far about why the vessel was at sea.
The crew on board the 11.5-metre wooden boat named Mysterious Wonder were reported to have left Tongatapu, Tonga, on 8 February. Authorities were notified on February 17 that the vessel was missing.
The boat was located last week by a New Zealand Defence Force aircraft, which assisted in the rescue of two people, while a third passenger remains missing.
According to a NZDF spokesperson, Commodore Shane Arndell the men, who were fisherman in the 20s-30s, were tired and hungry, but deemed to be in a good state after a medical check and a feed.
“I suspect they’d been at sea for a few days, but other than that they look like they’re fit and strong, and just have been through an experience that nobody wants to experience,” RNZ reported Arndell as saying.
Neither the Tonga Police nor the NZDF has made any reference to criminal activity in their public statements about the search operation.
The P-8A was on a mission to surveil illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing before it was diverted.
NZDF reported yesterday that a P-8A had carried out a successful patrol for fishing boats in the Pitcairn Islands, where strict marine conservation protections are in place.
They said the crew photographed 14 vessels who are now under assessment for possible illegal activity.
RNZ reporting on the missing Tongan boat similarly focused on the search effort, stating only that the NZDF and Tongan authorities coordinated the operation to locate the vessel and rescue survivors.
No criminal allegation was included in any official update.
