Seven officers were hurt in an attack last month and the blame is being attributed to the illegal home-brew alcohol known as kwaso.
Around 1,500 liters of the brew was seized but that is considered to be only a tiny drop in a very big ocean.
The explosion of the illegal trade, which results in potentially volatile situations, is not easy for the police trying to contain it.
“The police can only do so much. We have a licensing squad of about 12 members and the community, chiefs and religious people have to get stuck in too,” said Peter Marshall, acting police commissioner.
Prime Minister John Key has just visited Honiara to assess New Zealand’s role in the regional assistance mission and he says it will be some time before NZ assistance in the islands can be pulled out.
“At least three to five years and it could in all probability be longer than that,” Key told TVNZ.
An organized gang member who agreed to talk to ONE News on the condition of anonymity says the gangs sell 60-70 liters of kwaso a day. The sellers, mostly in village based gangs, take a quarter of the takings.
Police believe the potent home-brew is fuelling violence and crime.
A carton of beer costs around 165 Solomon dollars but for the same effect you can buy a bottle of kwaso for just $10. A small joint of marijuana costs 50 cents.
Many sellers say they do so for survival as the Solomon Islands are filled with a lot of young unemployed people.
“Money is very hard to come by and the making of kwaso is an easy way of making money,” said Marshall.
