Police tells the chiefs to report any criminal activities to them

The Fiji Police Force is recommending to chiefs that they should allow the legal process to take its course and inform Police immediately about the crimes being committed by the villagers before they make the decision to exile them.

Police Chief of Operations Rusiate Tudravu said all decisions made by the chiefs should be within the ambit of the law.

He said villagers should also be responsible and report these issues to police.

Tudravu’s comments come after chiefs in the province of Cakaudrove had agreed to exile villagers who were cultivating marijuana.

According to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the Itaukei Affairs Board Apakuki Kurusiga, the chiefs do not have the legal authority to exile someone from a village.

Kurusiga said they only have the authority under the vanua to exile people.

This decision by the Cakaudrove Provincial Council was made after 3,500 marijuana plants were uprooted by Police from farms in Cakaudrove late last year.

Earlier this year, a few villagers from Levuka in the Wailevu District and Viani village in the Navatu District were told to leave their villages.