Photo via The Independent

Major £10.4m cocaine haul missing from court and replaced with flour

Read the original at The Independent ↗
Cite

Chen, C. (2026, October 1). Major £10.4m cocaine haul missing from court and replaced with flour. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/fiji-cocaine-drug-court-theft-flour-b3059554.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-10-01 · by Christine Chen

Quick Summary

In Suva, Fiji's capital, nearly 40kg (88lb) of cocaine worth £10.4 million that was being held as evidence in a drug case has gone missing from the Suva High Court Registry. Police discovered seven out of 39 cocaine bars were missing on September 15 and subsequent forensic tests revealed the remaining exhibits had been replaced with flour, indicating tampering. Authorities are investigating those responsible for managing the exhibits at the court registry, and the justice minister emphasized that anyone involved would face legal consequences.
Written by AI on 2026-10-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

39 kilograms of cocaine worth up to $15 million stored at the Suva High Court in Fiji has gone missing or been replaced with flour during a long-running drug trial involving Joshua Aziz Rahman. Initially, 7 kg were reported missing earlier this month; forensic tests later confirmed that the remaining 32 kg had also been tampered with and replaced with flour. The stolen cocaine was being used as evidence in Rahman's case, who faced charges of drug trafficking but successfully appealed his conviction and is now back on trial. Fiji Police are investigating those directly responsible for managing court exhibits, including issues with CCTV and biometric security failures during the theft period.

Written for “Cocaine Stolen Replaced With Flour” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Cocaine Stolen Replaced With Flour
Crime & Law · 4 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 18% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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⚖️ Leans right Hedges 2 of 15 claims Outlet record 68/100
“The articles describe different events - one is about a cocaine seizure at the US-Canada border, while the other involves missing evidence in a drug trial in Fiji.”
Major probe after $10m cocaine haul vanishes from Fiji court and is reportedly replaced with flour Same event
Daily Mail
Hedges 7 of 21 claims Outlet record 69/100
Cocaine replaced with flour in Fiji drug trial Same event
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 3 of 14 claims Outlet record 67/100
Moment Met police smash drugs gang's plan to smuggle £20m of cocaine hidden in frozen fish from South America to UK as they are jailed for total of more than 70 years Different event
Daily Mail
Hedges 1 of 26 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles describe different drug-related incidents: one about a successful police operation to stop cocaine smuggling in frozen fish, and another about missing cocaine evidence in Fiji.”
52kg of cocaine stolen from Fiji evidence room, half replaced with flour Same event
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 1 of 28 claims Outlet record 67/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
11
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
18%
2 of 11 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
4
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Christine Chen
4 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Vice chief Mat Williams will serve as acting chief.
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🔮 While police have given no motive for the alleged attack, the involvement of counterterrorism investigators has raised alarm that it could have been an act of political violence, which is rare in Australia.
2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Australia hails hero barber who intervened during alleged attack on MP Helen Haines
🔮 "A person of interest allegedly involved in the incident is currently overseas and will be questioned." Justice Minister Siromi Turaga said those responsible for the theft would face the full force of the law. "It's shocking ... no one will be spared," he told news outlet Fiji One.
2026-10-01 · assertive framing · Major £10.4m cocaine haul missing from court and replaced with flour
🔮 In a statement released on Tuesday under the title “How we will do better for Australia”, the ChatGPT creator acknowledged mistakes in its initial response and vowed to take full responsibility to "rebuild trust with the Australian people".
2026-09-29 · assertive framing · OpenAI apologises for hacking Australian health data and pledges funding for cyber defences
Also by Christine Chen
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2026-10-23 · The Independent
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2026-09-29 · The Independent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Fiji Fiji Police Fiji Village Independent the High Court Registry

Subjects

Fiji GPE · 4× Fiji One ORG · 1× Fiji Police ORG · 1× Fiji Village ORG · 1× Independent ORG · 1× Joshua Aziz Rahman PERSON · 1× Siromi Turaga PERSON · 1× the High Court Registry ORG · 1× the United Nations ORG · 1×

Narrative

The drug haul was being stored as evidence at the Suva High Court Registry, in the capital of the Pacific island nation, during the long-running trial of Fiji-Canadian national Joshua Aziz Rahman as he appealed against his 2021 conviction and sentence.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-01
🔮 "A person of interest allegedly involved in the incident is currently overseas and will be questioned." Justice Minister Siromi Turaga said those responsible for the theft would face the full force of the law. "It's shocking ... no one will be spared," he told news outlet Fiji One.
2026-10-01 · The Independent
Major £10.4m cocaine haul missing from court and replaced with flour · assertive framing

Claims (11 extracted, 2 hedged)

Nearly 40kg (88lb) of cocaine being held as evidence in a major Fiji drug case has gone missing, police confirmed on Tuesday. asserted
police → hold → Tuesday
The drug haul was being stored as evidence at the Suva High Court Registry, in the capital of the Pacific island nation, during the long-running trial of Fiji-Canadian national Joshua Aziz Rahman as he appealed against his 2021 conviction and sentence. asserted
he → store → conviction
Police first began investigating a theft on September 15 after seven out of 39 cocaine bars were discovered missing. asserted
bars → begin → September
Forensic testing on the remaining 32 bars has since confirmed the remaining exhibits were tampered with and were replaced with flour, according to Fiji Village. uncertain
exhibits → remain → Village
This means about 39.5kg of cocaine, valued at about $31 million Fiji dollars (£10.4 million), is unaccounted for, local media added. asserted
media → mean → dollars
On Tuesday afternoon, Fiji Police issued a statement confirming "forensic tests" of the drugs had come back negative for illicit drugs. asserted
tests → issue → drugs
"The exhibits were all tampered with, and the investigation is focused on those directly charged with the management of the exhibits at the High Court Registry," the statement said. asserted
statement → tamper → Registry
"A person of interest allegedly involved in the incident is currently overseas and will be questioned." Justice Minister Siromi Turaga said those responsible for the theft would face the full force of the law. "It's shocking ... no one will be spared," he told news outlet Fiji One. uncertain
he → involve → outlet
Fiji police said cases involving drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine have surged since 2018. asserted
cases → say → 2018
In 2024, the United Nations said Fiji had emerged as a regional hub for drug trafficking in the Pacific. asserted
Fiji → say → Pacific
The number of drug arrests, mainly linked to methamphetamine, more than tripled in 2023, it added in a report. asserted
it → link → report
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