Weapons found in yacht

Press, 22 June 1989, Page 6

Weapons found in yacht

NZPA Suva Two New Zealanders were among a crew of six being investigated after security officers discovered a cache of arms in their yacht Divine Decadence. The arms were found when security men boarded the yacht at Lautoka port on Tuesday on a routine check. They found 13,000 rounds of ammunition and 11 assorted weapons including

pistols, rifles, and shotguns. The yacht arrived in Fiji from Los Angeles via Noumea and was to have sailed on to Apia cruising the Fiji group. Other members of the crew were two Americans and two Australians. Police have refused to reveal details of the case. The director-general of the ports authority of Fiji, Isimeli Bose, told the “Fiji Times” last

evening the case had been handed over to the security forces. He said work of the Army-trained port security unit ended with the discovery and search of the yacht in Lautoka. The arms had been handed to Lautoka police station for safe-keeping, he said. It could not be confirmed if the crew of Divine Decadence were arrested. But it is under-

stood the yacht and crew have been detained and barred from leaving Lautoka port. The discovery is the first since a containerload of weapons was discovered at Lautoka in June last year. That discovery had triggered the promulgation of the controversial internal security decree which gave security forces extraordinary powers over arrest, entry and occupation.