28 Nov 2006

Fiji's police Commissioner is ruling out arresting military Commander

9:59 am on 28 November 2006

Fiji's police commissioner, Andrew Hughes, is ruling out any attempt to arrest the military commander, Frank Bainimarama, either in New Zealand or when he returns to the country later today.

This is despite local media reports from Fiji claiming that he had asked Interpol to intervene.

Linda Skates has more.

"Mr Hughes says he has not requested any assistance from Interpol nor will any attempt be made to arrest the army commander when he returns to Fiji which he's expected to do later today. The police commissioner says two police officers did fly to New Zealand in an attempt to speak to the commander but it's known that this was unsuccessful. Mr Hughes has repatriated his family to Australia and is moving between locations after receiving a threat by elements in the military. He also says a sense of alarm was created when armed soldiers were seen in the streets of Suva yesterday. Mr Hughes says the commander should take up the offer to sit down with the prime minister to talk the issues through."