HONOLULU (Pacific Islands Report/PINA) — Forty people were arrested as police broke up a drug ring operating in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji, the Associated Press reported.
Most are Hawaii residents and many are Tongan nationals, according to Daniel Dzwilewski, head of the Honolulu Federal Bureau of Investigation office.
Many of the primary distributors arrested had ties to Richard “Tiki” Taumoepeau. He was arrested in 1999 for helping to import cocaine into Hawaii and is serving a 40-year prison sentence, Dzwilewski said.
Taumoepeau was one of four men convicted of running an international trafficking ring that brought cocaine from the mainland United States to Hawaii and other parts, including Australia and New Zealand.
The Tongans involved in the drug ring are known for violent criminal activity on Maui and Oahu in Hawaii, Dzwilewski said.
He praised members of Hawaii’s Tongan community who helped in the investigation.
“It took courage on the part of concerned parents and other individuals who helped,” he said.
A total of $350,000 in cash, 1.35 kilograms of cocaine and .45 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine were seized during the arrests, Dzwilewski said.
Another $250,000 in cash and 3.15 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine were seized earlier in the 16-month investigation by various federal agencies and Hawaii police.
