'No longer a remote threat': Law enforcers unite to tackle trans-Pacific drug smuggling

Law enforcement decision-makers met in Nouméa last week in an attempt to better coordinate the fight against trans-Pacific drug smuggling,under the theme "Pacific United Against Drug Trafficking at Sea".

"Narco traffic is no longer just a remote threat for the Pacific. It is a reality that directly affects our maritime spaces, our territories and our population," French High Commissioner in New Caledonia Jacques Billant told the gathering on 5 and 6 November.

The audience included about 150 high officials from fifteen neighbouring countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

He said the two-day meeting did not aim to sign any regional treaty, but to initiate a more efficient cooperation between countries and territories in the region in terms of fighting against the transhipment of narcotics.

Trans-Pacific highway'

The traffic volume has significantly risen over the past few years, on what is now dubbed a "Trans-Pacific highway", mainly from Central and South America (where the substances are produced) to the Western Pacific, mostly destination markets such as Australia and New Zealand.

Seventeen tonnes of drugs, mostly cocaine, were seized in the Pacific region during the first half of 2026.

"It's four times as much as 2025," Billant told the Pacific law enforcers, mainly police, army, customs, maritime forces and legal officers.

Some of these recent catches involved New Caledonia, as well as French Polynesia.

The New Zealand delegation included representatives from police, customs and the PACPOL Secretariat hosted in Wellington.

Intelligence sharing

"We have exchanged and compared our methods, our challenges," Billant said.

The participants also exchanged intelligence on how drug traffickers were operating and constantly adapting to an ever-evolving regional criminal environment.

Once relying on transport via sailboats and commercial cargo ships, the delivery method for drugs is now shifting to the "drop-off" technique in coastal areas, where floating shipments, sometimes unmanned and equipped with GPS transmitters, are later recovered by smaller vessels.

In one of the latest finds, in late October 2026, one of these GPS-fitted floating packages was found by a fisherman in Wallis and Futuna.

In French Polynesia, a total of eight tonnes of cocaine was seized in January and February 2026.

Off New Caledonia's coastlines, in June 2025, 2.5 tonnes of cocaine were seized onboard a Peru-flagged vessel.

"What we have facing us is organised, mobile and patient. It would be a mistake to believe that just one country can address the issue on its own. If we don't do anything we are at risk of being affected more quickly than we think," Billant told local media.

"Drug industry is an economy. So a market is a market, this is business. These organisations have a phenomenal financial power," Nouméa-based public prosecutor Camille Miansoni said.

French Ambassador for the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan said: "Our objective is not to create yet another platform."

"We want to insert ourselves in the existing regional architecture, as reiterated at the latest Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' meeting in August in Palau," Roger-Lacan said.

She added a recently created "Pacific Academy" could contribute to the regional effort by training more Pacific security forces.

Another significant challenge was to navigate between the region's different legal systems.