Samoa Customs and the police ministry seized more than 2,000 grams of marijuana and more than 500 grams of methamphetamine imported from the United States in a joint operation on 22 December 2020.[1] Police valued the high-grade marijuana at $50,000 tala and the methamphetamine, known in Samoa as ice, at over $570,000 tala; the joint release headed the two together as more than $600,000 tala.[2] The drugs came in as personal effects on a cargo ship that originated in California and arrived in Apia via American Samoa on Thursday 17 December 2020.[2] Customs chief executive Matafeo Avalisa Viali-Fautuaalii said a K9 unit officer and his canine partner identified the drugs during a random checking process.[2] The marijuana was concealed inside seven boxes of laundry powder and a can of Stax, while the methamphetamine was hidden in one box of cereal.[1] The search ran more than fourteen hours at the Customs Headquarters at Matautu-tai.[3]

Police Commissioner Su’a Fuiavailiili Egon Keil said that was over half a million tala worth of drugs now off the streets of Samoa.[2] He said the Criminal Investigation Division was working closely with Customs and that proof beyond reasonable doubt had to be attained before an arrest was made.[2] Keil warned that a premature arrest would expose the government and the officers involved to liability and could lead to civil rights violations.[2] The ministries said the police would continue investigating and file a joint legal case once the evidence was finalised.[1] Keil said 229 grams of cocaine had also been confiscated at the border that year, alongside the methamphetamine and cannabis imports.[2]

Police arrested a customs officer on 2 February 2021 over a separately confiscated consignment of drugs worth about $500,000 tala.[4] Police did not confirm that the February consignment was linked to the December seizure, though it was packed the same way.[4]