Guns, Ammunition Removed From Suva High Court for Safe Keeping

Military Police have removed guns and ammunition from the Suva High Court and transferred them to the Republic of Fiji Military Forces armoury for safe keeping.

The move was carried out following an order by High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar, who directed that the exhibits be removed from the court and placed in secure military custody.

The firearms and ammunition are exhibits connected to the John Nikolic cocaine case.

The development comes amid heightened concerns over the security of exhibits at the Suva High Court following revelations that cocaine connected to the Nikolic case had been missing from the court’s exhibit room since March this year.

Authorities only publicly revealed the disappearance after a separate case involving missing cocaine exhibits linked to the Joshua Rahman case came to light.

The incidents have triggered wider scrutiny of security arrangements surrounding court exhibits, with authorities reviewing measures including access controls, CCTV coverage, chain-of-custody procedures and exhibit storage.

Investigations into the missing drug exhibits remain ongoing.