17 Apr 2009

Tautua Samoa Party welcomes government action on TVNZ drugs/guns story

1:15 pm on 17 April 2009

The Tautua Samoa Party is welcoming government action on a recent news report by Television New Zealand alleging a growing culture of illicit drugs and gun smuggling in Samoa.

Samoa's Attorney General's office has hired the New Zealand law firm Chapman Tripp following an outcry in the country over the report.

The Acting Police Commissioner says several individuals who appeared in the news item have issued signed statements to confirm they are not gang members.

Tautua Samoa's chairman, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, says the television story has tarnished the country's image and will damage tourism.

"Because it reveals Samoa as a country of lawless people taking drugs openly and taking weapons everywhere and that we have a gangster culture which to be honest it's not as bad as what's happening in New Zealand and that's the facts."

Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi of the Tautua Samoa Party.