30 Jun 2004

Up to four Fiji police officers to be posted on Air Pacific flights to the U.S

2:46 pm on 30 June 2004

Up to four Fiji police officers are expected to be posted on any one Air Pacific flight to the US or through its airspace.

This follows the Fiji government agreeing to a US request that armed air marshalls be posted on the flights.

Police spokesman, Mesake Koroi, says officers from the newly-established Tactical Response Unit will be trained to become marshalls.

"From the discussions that have taken place, it would seem that I think four people would be involved in any one particular flight but that will depend on the number of passengers. You know, it's pretty vague at the moment, government may have approved it but we have yet to work out what the details on how it is going to be done."

Mr Koroi was not able to give details on what the costs would be or where the money would come from.