One arrested as police seize marijuana plants in Savai'i raid
Samoa police arrested and charged a 34-year-old man after an outpost-led raid on a property in Savai'i, seizing fresh and dried marijuana plants, dried leaves and marijuana cigarettes. He was remanded in custody until 6 February 2024, and the police commissioner could not confirm the quantities taken.
🇼🇸 Vaitoomuli, Savai'i · Samoa
Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services arrested and charged a
34-year-old man after a drug raid in Savai’i on Tuesday 9 January 2024.[1]A
police media release said the raid was led by officers of the Vaitoomuli
outpost.[1]According to the release, police seized fresh marijuana plants,
containers filled with dried marijuana leaves, marijuana cigarettes and dried
marijuana plants from the property.[1]
The suspect was remanded in custody until 6 February 2024 for mention, a court
listing at which a case is called without a plea.[1]Radio Samoa named the
village as Vailoa Palauli in Savai’i and said the man would face charges of
possessing and growing marijuana in court on 6 February.[2]
The police commissioner could not confirm the volumes of drugs confiscated.[1]
No mention was made of whether cash was found on the premises.[1]
Photos and video
Composite of police handout photos of pot plants and smaller marijuana plants from the Vaitoomuli outpost raid. Photo: Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections ServicesPhoto details
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Source: Samoa Global NewsPolice handout photo of marijuana plants and dried material seized in the Vaitoomuli outpost raid. Photo: Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections ServicesPhoto details
Radio Samoaradiosamoa.co.nzSMMaua e leoleo laau faasāina o le maruana, taofia ai se taulealea o Vailoa Palauli
Open questions the AI reported
Police gave no count of plants, no weight and no value for the marijuana seized, and the commissioner could not confirm volumes.
The submitted release names only the Vaitoomuli outpost and Savai'i, while Radio Samoa places the raid at Vailoa Palauli; the village comes from Radio Samoa.
No outcome of the 6 February 2024 court appearance was reported, and no charges beyond possession and cultivation were confirmed.
The article names no other cannabis enforcement component; its reference to a Malifa raid that yielded 14 charges is a separate event left out.
The village council's role in Raw Samoa's report is described as supporting police with information about drug offences generally, not about this raid specifically.
The police handout photos published with the release carry no captions beyond their file names, and show marijuana plants and dried material that the release attributes to this raid.
The government ordered police to be armed during drug raids after drugs were found in boxes of frozen chicken, and the prime minister called drug trafficking a top priority. The order was an enforcement response, not a change in the Narcotics Act.
Samoa Police arrested five suspects and seized 5,000 marijuana plants during an August 2023 drug raid at Faleatiu village in Samoa. Officers also confiscated marijuana seeds and unregistered firearms, with police estimating the street value of the plants at 250,000 talā.
Armed police led by Commissioner Fuiavaili'ili Egon Keil raided four marijuana farms in the mountains of Satapuala and Faleatiu on Upolu, arresting three men and taking 4,000 plants. Samoa Global News put the plants' street value at more than 4 million tala; the commissioner said the haul was smaller than the 10,000-plus plants found in the same hills a year earlier.
Samoan police raiding a property at Faleatiu in mid-May 2016 uncovered 500 marijuana plants and arrested five people, while two Tactical Operation Sector officers were injured by nail-spiked booby traps and hospitalised. Police also recovered ammunition at the site despite a gun amnesty that had ended in January.
