The Ba Magistrate's Court convicted Alivereti Nabulivou Kunaveli for possessing 2.8 grams of marijuana at Namau, Ba. Police found the dried leaves in a sack and bag between his legs in a hired carrier after a tip about transport from Navala.
The Ba Magistrate’s Court convicted Alivereti Nabulivou Kunaveli of possessing
2.8 grams of marijuana.[1]Magistrate Namrata Mishra delivered the judgment on
September 18, finding him guilty of unlawful possession of illicit drugs at
Namau, Ba, on May 21, 2021.[1]
Police intercepted a red carrier driven by a hired driver after receiving
information about drug transportation from Navala.[1]Officers found Kunaveli
in the front passenger seat with a white sack and a bag containing dried
marijuana leaves between his legs while he held a cane knife.[1]
Kunaveli claimed in his defence that the drugs belonged to the carrier driver.[1]The magistrate accepted the driver’s unchallenged evidence that Kunaveli
had hired him and returned 25 minutes later carrying the sack.[1]She ruled
that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Kunaveli had
custody and control of the drugs, rejecting the claim that the driver was an
interested witness shifting blame.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Nausori Magistrate’s Court acquitted two men of possessing 14 branches of marijuana found in a car stopped at Manoca in December 2024, ruling the drugs belonged solely to a passenger who had pleaded guilty. The court held the driver rebutted the legal presumption that drugs in a vehicle are his and acquitted a second passenger on the same basis.
Fiji police questioned six students and released them after a 16-year-old boy was tied up and forced to inhale marijuana by a group of youths in Galoa Village, Serua, in an attack filmed and circulated on social media. No charges have been reported, the victim's family refused a traditional forgiveness ceremony, and the minister for children called the attack a serious act of violence.
A Tongan national and two others appeared in a Fiji court on 11 July 2025 charged with possessing 1.4 grams of cannabis alongside 2.26 grams of methamphetamine. Bail was denied for all three and the case was adjourned to 25 July.
Six men were charged after allegedly being found with 139.6 grams of marijuana in Lakeba, Lau, on 23 June 2025. Four pleaded not guilty and one pleaded guilty, while a bench warrant was issued for the sixth man after he failed to appear in court.
