Kava in Northern Territory

from w
I found this news item from Fiji Village a bit strange. Kava is sold in Australia at present at about $100A per kilo, so 16 kilos should be no more than $1600, but of course if put into small envelopes the seller could make a huge profit. Looks like this is what the estimation is about. The current rule is that passengers from Fiji can bring only 2 kilogram of kava per person so I wonder how this man could get hold of 16.

There's plenty of articles about kava and the Northern Territory of Australia, and mostly about the dangers of it. Of course that is debatable.

Here’s the article:

Man charged with supplying trafficable quantity of kava 16/04/2011 [09:41]

A 45 year old Elcho Island man in Northern Territory Australia has been arrested and charged with supplying a Trafficable Quantity of Kava at Gapuwiyak Airstrip yesterday afternoon.

Police seized just over 16 kilograms of kava after searching the man’s baggage and reveal the kava was split into 451 bags and is estimated to be worth approximately $13,530. Superintendent of the Arafura Division Northern Command Brendan Muldoon said police will continue to crack down on kava runners. He added that the trafficking of kava is causing a lot of concern in these remote communities and black market kava trafficking is taking a lot of money out of these communities, money he feels that could be better spent on food for families.

The man has been bailed and will appear in Court at a later date.

Story by: Selina Navuso