Seventeen tonnes of illicit drugs, mostly cocaine, has been seized by local and international law enforcement in the Pacific since January. That equates to about three tonnes of illicit drugs seized every month since the start of this year.
For the entire year in 2025, the total seizure of illicit drugs in the Pacific region was about 4.6 tonnes.
The increase is partly because greedy and ruthless narco-gangs are trying to make more money by identifying new ways to traffic illicit drugs. The use of semi-submersible vehicles to cross the Pacific is one example.
The magnitude and endless maritime trafficking of illicit drugs to, and through the Pacific, has become a serious national security threat for the Pacific and Australia.
It is a threat the AFP cannot ignore.
This serious vulnerability must be countered to protect our regional security and the safety of our collective communities.
The AFP and our international partners will step up for three clear reasons.
- Most of the illicit drugs being trafficked to, and through the Pacific, are destined for Australia, so we have a moral responsibility to act and a direct responsibility to the Australian public to stop these drugs from reaching our shores;
- Our Pacific family is seeking help for this growing problem; and,
- The AFP, with like-minded law enforcement agencies, is the partner of choice to help fight this shared problem, consistent with Pacific Leaders' agreement that security must be the shared responsibility of Pacific Islands Forum members.
From the AFP's perspective, there is no point mincing words - it is our nation's shame that Australians consume too many illicit drugs and pay high prices for them.
As police, we see every day the brutal reality of illegal drug use and serious organised criminals who direct their unlawful business to Australia. They create misery in our communities and wreak havoc in our country.
Some victims, who have endured the most shocking violence and cruelty, have suffered greatly by perpetrators affected by illicit drugs like methamphetamine.
Too many victims are children.
While law-abiding Australians work hard for their money, organised criminals are living life large, not paying tax, and are now tasking our youth to carry out crimes so they can put a distance between them and their criminal activity. These are all the reasons why the AFP invests so much time and resources in combatting and disrupting transnational organised crime.
Pacific Island Chiefs of Police have watched from afar the impacts of illicit drugs on Australia and now they fear the diabolical reality facing their communities.
The illicit drug threat to the Pacific is exponentially increasing - corroding their health systems, their family structures, and their future - their next generation. The effect on such small populations is devastating. It is a complete undermining of their faith, family structure and their proud culture.
This is where the leadership of Fiji Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu has come to the fore.
Commissioner Tudravu wants the Australian public to know that Pacific communities have never been more at risk from the effects of illicit drugs.
Commissioner Tudravu is advocating for stronger responses to address the challenges of resourcing and expertise, as well as the timely sharing of information that takes into consideration the needs of all the Pacific.
He has implored the AFP and other partners to take action to help protect his country and the wider Pacific because Pacific regionalism is about the collective, and nothing underscores this more than the influence of Pacific Island Chiefs of Police.
Pacific Island Chiefs of Police are vocal for the need for a significant intervention, and this has been heard by the AFP and around the world.
With narco-gangs under threat because of strong law enforcement action in North America, the AFP will use its extensive partnerships to take new action.
We will do this with the Colombian Attorney General's Office, the National Police of Colombia, Columbian Navy, Mexican authorities, US law enforcement authorities, New Zealand Police, INTERPOL and Pacific Chiefs to target and disrupt organised criminals.
This week from May 18-22, the Fiji Police Force and the AFP will co-host the Pacific Transnational Crime Summit in Fiji to strengthen regional cooperation on transnational crime.
The summit will be held in partnership with the Pacific Transnational Crime Network, which includes crime units in 21 Pacific Island countries.
The Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre, which is hosted in Samoa, coordinates and analyses information received from crime units, and is one of the first lines of defence to protect Pacific nations and our region.
The summit, a first for the region, will bring together Pacific Police Ministers, senior Pacific operational law enforcement leaders and international partner agencies to share information about the strategic challenges, strengthen collaboration and find tangible solutions to threats.
Where we lawfully can, the AFP will work with local law enforcement to target criminals in their own backyard and be more aggressive at stopping illicit drugs at source countries.
Colombia produces about 70 per cent of the world's cocaine. Drug cartels send many tonnes of cocaine and other illicit substances to Australia each year.
Our AFP members in Bogota, with Colombian law enforcement, have deployed to remote parts of the Colombian jungle to deliberately destroy cocaine production laboratories. Just this month, the AFP in Bogota supported Colombian law enforcement during the arrests of multiple people allegedly supporting drug trafficking networks operating in narco-terrorist controlled territories where cocaine is produced to send to Australia.
In the past couple of years alone, the AFP-Colombian cooperation, has seized more than 20 tonnes of cocaine, including 5.5 tonnes located on a self-propelled, semi-submersible in the Pacific Ocean bound for Australia in October 2024.
But with our like-minded law enforcement partners, it is time for us to be bolder and do more to help the Pacific, Australians and our region. It is a credit to law enforcement agencies in Colombia and Mexico that they are willing to help the Pacific region.
The AFP and New Zealand Police will help fund an International Joint Investigations Team in Colombia to gather evidence about illicit drug shipments to help stop it coming to our region. It will be also supported by Australian Border Force and NZ Customs.
Coming together with trusted partners is how we will target and frustrate the cartels and other organised criminals.
And we must do this for the collective health, security and sovereignty of like-minded countries that embrace the rules-based order and democracy.
