214 g of marijuana found in Samoa Post package; man denies charges
Samoa Customs found 214 grams of marijuana in a suspicious package arriving through Samoa Post during International Customs Day week in January 2025 and handed the drugs to the police ministry. A man later pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court to possession and importation of narcotics and was granted bail ahead of a hearing set for May 2025.
🇼🇸 Samoa Post Office, Apia, Upolu · Samoa
·
Cannabis
214 g
Samoa’s Ministry of Customs and Revenue intercepted a suspicious package that
arrived through Samoa Post and found 214 grams of marijuana inside.[1]The
interception took place during the week Samoa marked International Customs Day
2025.[1]
Customs officers used X-ray scanning equipment and intelligence-driven checks to
identify the drugs before they reached local communities.[2]The intercepted
drugs were handed to the Ministry of Police, Prison and Corrections Service for
further investigation and legal action.[2]The package was handed over to the
police ministry for investigation and legal proceedings.[3]
A man appeared in Samoa’s Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to possession and
importation of narcotics over the marijuana brought in through Samoa Post.[4]The court granted him bail on strict conditions that included surrendering all
his travel documents and living at Afiamalu until his next appearance, and
Justice Fepuleai Ameperosa Roma told him not to contact police witnesses.[4]The judge set the hearing for the week beginning 19 May 2025.[4]
Customs chief executive Fonoti Talaitupu Li’a-Taefu said the week’s drug busts
showed the service’s ongoing commitment and that it would keep strengthening
border control with local and international partners.[1]The marijuana
interception came two days after customs officers seized a shipment of
methamphetamine at the Matautu wharf, a separate case in which a businessman and
two staff were arrested.[1]
No date is given for the interception beyond the week of International Customs Day 2025; 31 January 2025, the publication date, is used as the incident date.
The material is described only as marijuana, with no laboratory confirmation or value estimate reported.
The police ministry's public statement on the case was blocked by a captcha and has no archived copy, so the figures come from news accounts of it.
The accounts do not say whether anyone was arrested at the time of the interception; the man whose charges were later reported is not described as detained during the interception.
The outcome of the May 2025 hearing or any later sentence was not found in the sources opened.
The crystal methamphetamine seizure at Matautu wharf mentioned in the same article is a separate event and is not recorded here.
Customs officers at Apia Wharf intercepted suspected marijuana on a 25-year-old passenger and an undeclared firearm in a 42-year-old passenger's luggage after the MV Lady Samoa IV arrived from American Samoa. Both men were charged and handed to Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services for investigation.
Tinofili Perenise, 28, was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison in Samoa after pleading guilty to possessing 45 marijuana cigarettes weighing 22.6 grams, which he admitted selling to fund his drug addiction. Police found the cigarettes and a glass pipe in a bag during a June search at Tafaigata, and the court treated the quantity and commercial intent as aggravating factors.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 22.6 gPrison 1 year and 10 months
The acting police commissioner said 20 raids between January and May 2026 led to 55 charges, including 12 women aged 18–47 and 43 men aged 16–53. Seizures included just over 100 g of methamphetamine, marijuana plants and joints, and firearms. The figures cover all drugs.
Samoa Customs and police detained a 43-year-old NZ passport holder arriving on a Fiji Airways flight at Faleolo on 12 February 2026 with six bottles of marijuana, a grinder and rolling papers. He remained in custody for questioning.
