Minister for Home Affairs Pio Tikoduadua says there are bad people among us who simply do not care about the future of the region.

Speaking at the opening of the Pacific’s vessel boarding and search training facility at RFNS Viti base in Togalevu, outside Suva today, Tikoduadua says the recent discovery of packages of white substance believed to methamphetamine on the shores of islands in the Yasawa Group and some other countries in the region is of great concern.

He says that not everyone is striving to do good for the people, adding some simply do not care about the region’s future.

“There is DNA of bad people, people who do not care, what they bring, and what it affects our children, our families, our society, and our communities in Fiji and the region.”

Minister for Home Affairs Pio Tikoduadua

Tikoduadua says in the region, no nation on its own can contain the war on drugs and other illegal activities happening in our ocean.

“Covering this large ocean space is an astronomical effort, and our economies are not cut for it; we do not have the money and the resources. This threat, particularly drugs and other illegal imports that come into our region, can only be contained if we all work together.”

Tikoduadua says the sea is a common border for nations in the region, and the vast ocean we live in has been used to further criminal activities.

The Minister says protecting our ocean borders is a massive task, and no country in the region is cut out to do it alone.

He thanked the United Office on Drugs and Crime and the government of Japan for the set-up of the facility where enforcement officers from across the region will be trained on safeguarding our ocean borders.