The ringleader of a plot to import 4.1 tonnes of methamphetamine into Fiji — drugs that police say were bound for Australia — has been sentenced to life in prison.
Justin Steven Masih Ho was one of nine people at Fiji's High Court in Lautoka on Thursday to be handed the toughest sentences for drug offences the country has ever seen.
Other jail terms given to offenders ranged from 15 to 55 years, after judge Aruna Aluthge found them guilty of various drug-related charges last month.
Police seized the methamphetamine, which had an estimated value of $FJ2 billion ($1.37 billion), during a January 2024 raid in Fiji's tourism hub, Nadi.
Justice Aluthge sentenced Ho to life in prison with a non-parole period of 30 years.
He sentenced another man, David Otto Heritage, to 55 years' jail with a 25-year non-parole period.
In delivering his ruling on the case last month, Justice Aluthge said "sophisticated drug cartels" were involved in the methamphetamine trafficking operation disrupted by the record drug bust.
He said drug cartels equipped with superyachts, satellite phones and encrypted apps had used Fiji as a transit point for methamphetamine trafficking.
The judge also rejected arguments from defence lawyers that the men, accused of drug trafficking and drug possession, were acting under duress and motivated by fear of the cartels.
Fiji prosecutors alleged that Ho and Heritage arranged for the methamphetamine to be shipped into the country.
Witnesses gave accounts of a drug shipment that brought the meth ashore at Fantasy Island, near Nadi, after a rendezvous with a superyacht on the high seas arranged via a satellite phone call in December 2023.
Along with seven other co-accused, the prosecution alleged that Ho and Heritage moved the drugs to locations around Nadi.
Justice Aluthge found Ho and Heritage guilty of unlawful importation of illicit drugs.
He also found the two men, along with several other co-accused, guilty of unlawful possession of illicit drugs.
Seven of the nine people charged in relation to the drug raid pleaded not guilty, while another two co-accused pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of illicit drugs before the trial.
In delivering his ruling, Justice Aluthge said Ho was the key figure and main beneficiary of the drug-trafficking operation.
'Fiji has enforcement power'
Police say the drug bust is part of a growing trend of cartels using the Pacific Islands as a transit point before importation into the lucrative Australian and New Zealand markets.
The court case, which lasted more than a year, is being seen as a watershed moment and proof that Fiji's justice system can withstand the pressure of transnational organised crime.
It also involved a record number of Fijians to be jointly accused in a single court case.
Speaking outside the court after the sentencing, state prosecutor John Rabuku called the sentences "a wonderful exercise of discretion by the judge" and said it proved Fiji's courts could take on international cartels.
"We are happy with the sentence that has been passed on each of [the nine people]," he said.
"The message that goes out when there is a successful prosecution like this is that Fiji does have the enforcement power," he said.
"Fiji does have the prosecutorial know-how and Fiji does have a judiciary that's mindful of … the work that the drug cartels are [doing] across the world and transnationally into our region, and the effects it might have … on vulnerable communities like the Pacific."
