Traditional leaders in the Cook Islands have called on the government to invest more in border control to combat drug trafficking.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The Cook Islands News reports this week police chiefs briefed the annual Koutu Nui conference on the emergence of methamphetamine in the country.
Police Commissioner Maara Tetava said there were two sniffer dogs patrolling entry points where drugs are most likely to entry the country and a scanner machine is used at the airport to check luggage.
One concerned Mataiapo said the government needed to invest more money into border control as only certain containers were checked due to the lack of personnel.
"We need every single container thoroughly checked," Koutu Nui president Terea Matiapo Paul Raui Allsworth stated.
On average 400 containers land in the Cook Islands every month.
Leaders also asked if there were programmes to educate kids and the community on the drug issue and what the effect would be on people's health if addiction gets out of control, and whether the police would conduct community meetings.
