Like a movie plot: 39 kg of cocaine vanishes from a Fiji courtroom, replaced with flour

Cocaine worth up to $31 million was replaced with flour in a courtroom in Fiji, in a case that has prompted a police investigation into the manipulation and destruction of evidence. In total, nearly 39 kilograms of cocaine linked to a major drug-trafficking case are missing, as authorities investigate the role of those responsible for safeguarding it.

The case concerns cocaine stored at the High Court in Suva, Fiji’s capital, as evidence in the trial of Fijian-Canadian Joshua Aziz Rahman. The 32 kilograms of cocaine that remained in the courtroom had been replaced with flour, while another seven kilograms had previously been found missing. That brings the total to 39 kilograms of cocaine linked to the case so far.

The case was discovered on 15 September, when an inspection of the room where the evidence was kept revealed that seven of the 39 cocaine bricks registered as evidence were missing. Forensic examinations then showed the remaining evidence had also been tampered with.

Fiji’s Justice Minister and Deputy Attorney General Siromi Turaga described the matter as serious and said the management and security of court evidence is an institutional responsibility.