Fiji’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions is defending the move to grant immunity to several people charged in connection to the country’s largest cocaine bust.
Police seized more than 2.6 tonnes of the drug at a remote jetty in mid-January, they arrested ten locals and six foreign nationals on a range of drugs charges.
The High Court released five of the local defendants on bail on Monday after hearing that they had been granted immunity to help the prosecution.
Without referring to specifics of the current case, Prosecutor John Rabuku says the general aim of immunity deals is to catch the “big fish”.
“Providing immunity to the witnesses strengthens the state’s case because these are the people who were present during the planning,” he said.
