80 percent of police officers in the country cannot identify a human trafficking case says Senior Investigator of the Human Trafficking Unit, Inspector Mukhtar Ahmed.

Speaking at the National Workshop on Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation in Sigatoka, Inspector Ahmed says majority of officers also cannot handle a human trafficking case.

Inspector Ahmed says police officers need training on how to handle these cases as they are serious.

“In the station areas we can see the crime officers that once the case has come they refer to the Crimes Decree and they will look for offences under the Crimes Act, so they will look for abduction, rape, defilement, loitering by children and even begging.”

He says the officers do not focus on the critical offense which is trafficking in person.

Inspector Ahmed also highlighted a case in 2015 whereby a Fijian citizen was arrested in Indonesia for the purpose of suspected sexual exploitation and drug trafficking.

According to Ahmed, the girl had been fooled into marriage through social media and had transited through Hong Kong with a package.

However, he says authorities in Indonesia picked up on the unusual package at the airport and later apprehended her.