Four asylum seekers on Nauru face charges over growing marijuana
At least six people were arrested or detained on Nauru over a prostitution and drug scandal, with four asylum seekers facing drug charges accused of growing marijuana crops. The immigration department said it was aware of the allegations but that they were matters for Nauru Police.
Asylum seekers living at the Australian-run immigration camp on Nauru were
reportedly accused of using a teenage prostitute and growing marijuana.[1]Asylum seekers on Nauru were embroiled in a sex and drug racket.[2]One
detainee was charged with indecent assault of a minor, while four others faced
drug charges.[1]A sixth person, a Tuvaluan woman, was detained in May accused
of providing sexual services to male asylum seekers for money.[1]
The detainees facing drug charges were accused of growing marijuana crops on the
island.[1]The Department of Immigration and Border Protection said it was
aware of the allegations but said they were matters for Nauru Police rather than
the department.[1]The Australian government pays Nauru and Papua New Guinea
to house asylum seekers in conditions condemned by human-rights groups.[1]
Australia refuses to settle would-be refugees who arrive by boat, saying the
policy dissuades migrants from risking the dangerous journey.[1]The previous
year, The Guardian had published more than 2,000 leaked incident reports from
Nauru including allegations of sexual abuse, assaults and self-harm among asylum
seekers.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
6
Charged
5
Agency
Nauru Police
Agency type
Police
Charge
drug charges over growing marijuana crops
Case stage
Charged
Date
Publication date
Sources
Daily Mail Australiadailymail.comAsylum seekers living in the detention centre on Nauru 'caught using underaged teenage prostitute and growing marijuana'
No separate date was given for the arrests or charges; 22 June 2017 is the publication date of the accessible re-report and is used as the incident date.
No figure was published for the number of marijuana plants, the weight seized, the area cultivated, or any value estimate.
No court outcome, plea, sentence, or identity beyond asylum-seeker status was reported for the four facing drug charges.
The submitted Courier-Mail page is paywalled, so only its headline and standfirst could be read directly; cannabis details come from the accessible re-report of the same Courier-Mail story.
Algiers police arrested six people suspected of running a neighbourhood gang that intimidated residents of Draria, seizing 19.6 grams of processed cannabis alongside cocaine, psychotropic tablets, bladed weapons and suspected drug proceeds. The six were presented before the public prosecutor at the Chéraga court.
Two adults received fines of A$1,500 each, community service and one year’s probation after pleading guilty in a one-gram cannabis case. A teenager received a A$200 fine and one month’s community service, with no conviction recorded. The magistrate considered imprisonment disproportionate for the adults, months before parliament introduced mandatory custody for possession.
Police recorded 175 crime offences in the first quarter of 2024 across categories including illicit drug use and possession, but published no drug-specific breakdown. The figure covers all crime, not cannabis alone.
The Supreme Court dismissed appeals against three-month sentences for possessing Indian hemp under section 10(1)(c) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1968. It was the last reported pre-2004 cannabis prosecution and showed the old law's three-month statutory minimum.
