Alfred Oti’s new habit

ALFRED Oti had an insatiable appetite for beer which he couldn’t afford to quench. He became a heroin courier to pay for his habit, and landed himself a 50-year jail sentence.

It left his career as a senior Customs officer in the Solomon Islands in tatters, and reshaped the lives of his family.

It started some time during his alcoholic addiction in the early 1980 s, Oti told Pacific Islands Monthly. He was a heavy drinker and, when a visiting Australian invited him to share a few beers, he accepted. Drinking in a car, admiring the Tonga view, the Austra lian offered Oti a source of money to pay for his precious alcohol.

“At the time I had a good job. I was working in Customs in charge of the airport and the waterfront,” Oti told Pacific Islands Monthly. “But I was a heavy drinker. The more I drank the more money I wanted. When I met this visitor he seemed friendly and invited me for a few beers.

“He looked like a tourist but he was a drug dealer. He was here to cultivate

someone to work for him. He took me out and we had a few drinks in his car and he went straight to the subject he said he wanted

someone to be a courier. He promised me it would be really big money.”

All Oti had to do was receive heroin which was mailed from Penang in Malaysia, and carry it to Australia.

“I immediately fell into the trap,” he said. He took his first load of heroin to Australia in early 1985.

“I don’t think I was frightened so much at the time. Greed overcomes any fear; greed and the expectation of getting something out of it,” he said.

His received $5OOO for his first delivery. But the second time he tried it, about 10 months later, he was arrested.

Oti was imprisoned on December 23, 1985, on three charges of conspiracy to transport prohibited goods, conspiracy to supply them, and for possession of them. He was sentenced to 20 years for two charges and 10 years for one, a total of 50 years. With a remission he was given only 20 years.

In prison, he was forced to stop and think about his life. “I felt a complete emptiness, something missing. My mind started drifting toward the Lord,” he

He looked like a tourist but he was a drug dealer here to cultivate someone

said. “I was brought up in a Christian mission school and I started enquiring about getting a bible. The chaplain gave me one, a prayer book and a hymn book and I felt something coming back a peace. I decided to join the fellowship. I felt a lot happier, and

accepted my imprisonment.

“Six months later I enrolled in one of the colleges doing theological studies externally. I received a certificate after three and a half years.”

After three years, Oti appealed to have his sentence reduced. He said two of his sentences were squashed leaving only the 10-year one. With good behaviour and work in the prison, the seven years were cut to five and a half.

When he returned to the Solomon Islands in late June this year the Government could not employ him.

“I’m out of a job, but I’m settling down and trying to put the pieces together,” he said.

And the pieces include those of his family’s lives.

His wife, Elsie, had considered leav

ing Alfred during his early alcohol

addiction days, but she decided to stand by him when she learned of his arrest.

“She was com pletely in the dark about what I had been doing. But she

said when she found out I was arrested, she thought of me alone in a foreign jail in a foreign country and she knew she should stand by me,” Oti said.

His four children also have taken it in their stride, although one of his sons originally reacted badly to his arrest.

“His character changed and he became rough and arrogant. He was expelled from school,” Oti said.

The.experience may have narrowed his son’s future options. It has also narrowed Oti’s, now unemployed and

living under police protection.

But he has cultivated a new habit of helping others avoid the same mistakes.

He has started setting up a Prison Fellowship Ministry in Honiara, and would like to give drug prevention talks in schools.

“I know I was naive and gullible, self-centred and greedy, proud and conceited. This rendered me impotent to backing away from temptation,” he said. “But I feel my imprisonment was productive and I got a lot out of it. I would like to help others now.” □

in some communities. There is also growing evidence that cannabis is being directed to the Australian and North American markets.”

The much publicised extradition of Casey Valentine Jones last year (see page 39) is an example of successful cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies in the region. Unfortunately, the Jones case is the exception rather than the rule.

The Australian, New Zealand and United States governments have contributed funds and training to help develop general Customs facilities and skills.

But even Fiji one of the most advanced and high risk countries because of its location on most trans-Pacif.c routes and which already has cautrht 45 international drug smugglers in the las. five years, has problems I, introduced tough new deterrent measures by amending the Dangerous Drugs Act in February 1990 to extend penllties beyond fines to mandatory imprisonment for a minimum of three months To

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ranging from possession to cultivation, use, or occupying premises used for preparation, consumption or sale of drugs. The legislation was amended again in February this year to avoid a loophole under which the mandatory jail sentences could be suspended subject to good behaviour.

Yet the Fiji Country Situation Report presented to a meeting of senior officials on drug abuse issues in Asia and the

Pacific in Japan in February 13-15 this year still noted “serious (Customs) operational problems in that they do not have X-ray and other sophisticated electronics f° r detection ... and dependency in detection of drugs rests fully with the personal skills of Customs Officers” .

For the US, Australia and New Zealand, tracking of traffickers and extradition of drug criminals has been bogged down by intracountry and intercountry red tape which can become even more bogged down with political changes.

The New Zealand government, for example, is still in the process of negotiating with Fiji a new extradition treaty which would cover drug traffickers and other criminals. When Fiji was expelled from the Commonwealth after the 1987 coups, the extradition arrangement between Fiji and Commonwealth countries lapsed. Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Isikeli Mataitoga, visited New Zealand for the first round of discussions last year, and negotiations are still under wayl finalise a new arrangement What is needed then, is a more coordinated concerted effort by all the countries involved. Australia, New Zealand and the United States may need to consider more specific and prolonged

assistance m battling drug trafficking.

But e q Ua hy 5 island countries need to acknowledge the need for concerted effort on preventive public education, and for a co-ordinated regional effort in

fighting drug trafficking,

There is enough evidence to suggest the problem is here and now, with too many countries lying opening to desta bilisation from outside criminal elements.

Pacnews has quoted a source who noted growing Hong Kong Triad in volvement in countries including Austra- New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, Consequently organised crime was ex pected to be discussed at the annual South Pacific Forum which started in Pohnpei on July 27, following a report on regional law enforcement cooperation by Australian diplomat Perry Head. . But one diplomatic source also said the

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Trafficking is not just a matter of drug laden boats and planes from South East Asia anc j Smith America chugging through the region enroute to Australia, New Zealand or the United States Drug traffickers stop enroute, and the trinkets t hey carry for islanders these days are more likely to be wads of cash, illegal drugs and a host of other problems with come with organised crime and complacency. □